The Rise of a Warrior: Danny Phantom
by The Legendary Dragon Reaper
Summary: Leonardo Hunter, Danny Fenton. Both high school freshmen, both half ghosts, both using their powers for the greater good, no matter how much the greater good may hate it. And it does. Basically my OC in Danny Phantom. Also, expect some semi-major plot involvement from 2 characters that go way underappreciated. Please read each chapter until the end and check for authors notes.
1. Prologue

**Before notice: My character's name is Leonardo, and my character's older brother's name is Raphael, just so you guys don't get confused.**

Raphael stood with Leonardo in their underground ghost lab "Alright Leo, I know you're starting a new school today but we have to get a round of training in before then."

Leonardo let out a sigh "I know bro, it's just that these powers…"

"I know, but this is what they would want. You asked me to help you train these new powers of yours, and whether they were a blessing or a curse there's no getting rid of them."

"Yeah, I know." Leo took a deep breath and composed himself "Alright, let's-" then he paused, a brown mist escaping from his mouth "Starting already? It's not like you to get so into it so fast."

"That's because I never started the simulator yet."

"What?" then he looked and saw two ghost octopuses appear from within the portal "Well I guess we can chalk this up as training for today. It's Phantom time!" he was enveloped in a white ring of light, and when it disappeared he had transformed into his half ghost state, his hair going from brown to silver, his eyes going from black to blue, and his outfit changing to a full black jumpsuit with blue gloves and boots "Alright, come at me ectopuses!"

The ectopuses charged.

Leonardo caught both of them by the tentacle, one in each hand, then fired Ecto Rays from each hand, blasting the octopuses apart.

Once they reformed, they fearfully raced back through the portal.

Leo sighed and powered down "Done and done, now what's my time?"

Raphael checked the stopwatch "2 minutes and 12 seconds in total. Nice job, it's a new record."

"I don't count it unless I get both of them in less than 2 minutes."

"But that's still a significant improvement from your last one."

"By 18 seconds." then he looked at the clock "Crap, I'd better go or I'm gonna be late. I can't afford that one the first day." he transformed again and flew off.

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 **(At the same time, on Danny's end)**

"I think I should tell them." said Danny.

"Why? It's not like parents listen." Sam pointed out "And even worst they don't understand, why can't they accept me for who I am?!"

"...Sam, you know that I'm talking about my powers and my problems right?"

"Oh yeah, me too."

"It's been a full month since the accident and I still barely have any control, if anybody catches me then I go from geek to freak around here."

"Kind of like what you're doing right now." Tucker pointed out.

"What?" then Danny freaked when he realized that he was phasing through the floor "Oh god dammit, if my dad can invent something that accidentally made me half ghost then why can't he invent something that turns me back to normal?" he phased through a snack machine while either not noticing or not caring "And on top of that, my sister signed me up to be the tour guide for this new guy that starts today. Can my life be any more down the toilet?"

"Danny, your powers make you unique." Sam told him "Unique is good, and that's why I'm an ultra recyclo vegetarian."

"No comment."

"What does that mean again?" asked Tucker.

"She refuses to eat anything with a face on it."

"Oh who cares about any of that stuff? Danny, two words: Meat connoisseur." Tucker took a long whiff "Last night you had sloppy joes."

"Impressive."

"Meat heightens the senses, and my all meat streak is 14 years strong."

"And it's about to end." Sam told him, a triumphant smirk plastered across her face "The school board finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu, I finally wore them down."

"Wait. What did you do?"

"...Oh geez, look at the time. As much as I'd love to hear about how Sam ruined lunch forever, I've gotta go meet this new guy. Bye!" and Danny promptly ran off.

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Leonardo stood in front of the entrance to Casper High and sighed ' _A new school, a new life, new people to hide the fact that I'm half ghost from.'_

"Hey."

Leo looked in front of him to see Danny come up to him "Oh hey."

"Are you Leonardo Hunter?"

"Yeah that's me, but feel free to call me Leo."

"Cool. Call me Danny, Danny Fenton. Nice to meet you." they started walking.

"You too." then he felt the green mist coming out of his mouth again, and he quickly covered it with his hand ' _This is…'_

Danny suddenly felt his own Ghost Sense going off ' _Don't tell me…'_ they both shared a look with each other ' _Is he like me?'_

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After 5 awkward minutes of walking in silence, Danny led Leo to the cafeteria "Anyway, this is the cafeteria."

"So I can see." Leo followed him into line, only to be rather thrown off by what he saw "What the-?"

"You got me. What is this, grass on a bun?"

"What kind of psychopath would come up with something like that?"

"That kind." Danny pointed over to where Tucker was yelling at Sam "Those are my friends Sam and Tucker, Tucker's what he calls a meat connoisseur and Sam is what she calls an ultra recyclo vegetarian, whatever the hell those mean."

"So Tucker thinks meat is a gift from the gods and Sam thinks that meat is a curse by the devil himself."

"...Yeah that's about right."

"Sounds like you're the only thing that keeps them from ripping each other apart over their clashing belief."

"Knowing those two it wouldn't surprise me, but they're my friends and I'd do just about anything for them." then he led them over to the table "Hey guys, this is Leo, the new guy I was telling you about."

"Hey." Leo held up two fingers.

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At the same time, a Lunch Lady ghost emerged from the Fenton ghost portal and realized that someone had changed the menu, and promptly took off.

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Danny held up a piece of the grass bread thing "So Sam, don't you think this is at least a little bit extreme?"

"Nope." was all Sam said.

"Oh Ms Manson." Mr Lancer put a hand on her shoulder from behind her "The school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment to our cafeteria." he then looked at Leo "And Mr Hunter, I hope you're settling into our school well."

Leo nodded "I am sir, it seems like a great school."

"Excellent."

Then Tucker suddenly sniffed "Meat, I smell meat. It's near."

Lancer grew nervous "No no, the rumors about the all steak buffet in the teacher's lounge are not at all true. Thanks again." then he ran off.

"...It's so true." Leo said after a moment "Seriously though, even if you don't like it why make everyone else eat this junk?"

"It's not junk." Sam protested "It's recyclable organic matter."

"No, it's garbage." then he felt his Ghost Sense go off ' _There it is again.'_

"See-" then Leo felt his too ' _Don't tell me…'_

' _Is it him? Or is it…_ Guys, I've got a problem.

"FENTON!" a pissed off Dash threw mud at the back of Danny's head.

"Scratch that, make that two problems."

"I ordered three mud pies, and do you know what they gave me? Three mud pies, with mud from the ground! All because of your girlfriend!"

"She's not my/ I'm not his girlfriend!" Danny and Sam let out a simultaneous chorus.

Dash promptly grabbed Danny by the shirt "These are supposed to be the best years of my life, it's all gonna be downhill for me after high school! How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating mud?!"

"Actually it's topsoil." Sam pointed out.

"Whatever!" Dash shoved them in Danny's face "Eat it, and I mean all of it."

"...Fine." Danny was about to, when his Ghost Sense went off ' _It's not him, so…'_ he looked and saw the Lunch Lady ghost in the kitchen ' _Crap.'_

"Garbage fight!" Leo subtly fired a mini Ecto Ray from his finger, causing the plate to fly straight into Dash's face, then turned to Danny "You do whatever you've gotta do and I'll do whatever I've gotta do."

"Thanks." Danny promptly crawled away during the chaos, with Tucker and Sam quickly following his lead ' _So he might know, and he might be like me, but…'_

' _Okay, now's my chance!'_ Leo quickly rushed out of the cafeteria and hid himself in a janitor's closet "It's Phantom time!" he transformed and phased out of the closet, then flew off as fast as he could.

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Danny led Tucker and Sam into the kitchen where they saw the Lunch Lady ghost "There she is."

"This shouldn't be so bad." Tucker commented "She looks a little like my grandmother."

"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?"

Then LL noticed them "Hello children, can you help me? Today's lunch is meatloaf but I don't see the meatloaf, did someone change the menu?"

"Her, all her, totally her." Danny pointed at Sam.

"YOU CHANGED THE MENU?!" she was surrounded by green flames "The menu has been the same for 50 years."

"Guys, get behind me." Danny motioned for them to get behind them.

Sam promptly did so, with Tucker following "Wow, I feel so much safer."

"I'm going ghost!" Danny promptly transformed into his ghost form and flew up to meet LL in mid air "I command you to… go away! _Is that gonna work?'_

"Never!" LL sent a barrage of dirty dishes at him.

Danny phased through them, leaving him unharmed ' _Oh good, for a second there I didn't think that would actually work.'_ then he looked and saw them heading towards Sam "Crap!" he blitzed over and caught them all before they could hit her.

Then LL fired a second barrage, this time at Tucker.

' _Dammit, I can't get to him in time!'_

"I've got this one!" then Leo suddenly showed up in his ghost form and destroyed all of the plates with a single Ecto Ray, then looked back at the others "Sup?"

"Thanks, we'll talk later." then Danny was able to neatly line up all of the dishes he caught back on the counter "Well if the whole superhero thing doesn't work out then I could always find an exciting career as a busboy."

"The sad thing there is that a busboy gets paid more."

"I control lunch!" LL roared "Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules! Anybody want cake?" she received dumb nods from Tucker and Sam.

"Too bad! Children who change my menu do not get dessert!" she phased through the roof and unleashed blasts of fire from the ovens.

"No!" Leo appeared and unleashed an Ecto Shield, stalling the ghost ovens "I can only hold this thing up for so long, get them out of here while you can!"

"But what about you?" asked Danny.

"I'll be right behind you, now go!"

"...Thanks." Danny promptly grabbed Tucker and Sam and phased through the wall using his intangibility.

Leo quickly let down his Ecto Shield and phased through the wall after them, escaping the ghost ovens.

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Danny stopped tumbling back and got back on his feet "It worked? Yes, it worked!"

"Unbelievable." Sam grumbled "This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual?"

"No." then Leo appeared "It's the thanks you get for forcing your sense of individuality on everyone else."

Then the lights shorted out and stuff began flying out of the lockers, courtesy of LL as she was also summoning various meats.

Tucker sniffed "Steak, ribeye, porterhouse, medium rare…"

"That ability is both impressive and disturbing." Leo commented.

Danny sighed "Just give it a few weeks, you'll get used to it."

"Somehow, I doubt that."

"Where did she get the meat from though?"

"Where do you think? Teacher's lounge, duh."

LL turned into a gigantic meat monster "Prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the 5 food groups! Cookie?" she received a head shake from Sam "THEN PERISH!"

"Forget it!" Danny blitzed in front of Sam "The only thing that has an expiration date here is you!" then he accidentally transformed back "...I did not mean to do that."

LL swatted Danny and Tucker aside, then grabbed Sam and took off.

"Come on guys, we've gotta go."

"Correction, _I've_ gotta go. You guys have to deal with the jock and Lancer." and Leo took off, leaving them alone.

"What's he-" Danny looked back, only to see a pissed off Lancer and a mud covered Dash standing behind them "Oh. Crap."

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Leo later returned and found Danny and Tucker in the principal's office, now back in his human form "Guys."

"So I was right." Danny noted "You're half ghost just like me."

"Yeah, but we don't have time for that. We've gotta find your girlfriend."

"For the last time, Sam is not my girlfriend!"

"Not the time for that." Tucker pointed out "New guy is right, and besides I feel like I'm the one who got her kidnapped."

"That might have something to do with the fact that you're the one who changed the menu. How about that?"

"Hold on." Tucker paused and sniffed "That stink is still in the building, 20 years tops."

"Wait a minute." Leo checked out the security cameras "Check it out, there's a meat trail in there." he transformed.

"Where there's meat there's bound to be a meat ghost." Danny transformed "And where there's a meat ghost is where we'll find Sam. Come on." he grabbed Tucker and phased out of the room.

' _Oh crap, they're coming back.'_ Leo turned invisible.

Then Lancer came into the room with Dash "Gentlemen, your punishment will be-" he realized they were gone "-worse than you can imagine!"

' _And just for kicks…'_ Leo picked up the broom and whacked both of them over the head, terrifying them, then went after the others.

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Tucker stared in awe at the endless amount of meat in front of him "Sweet mother of mutton, I've dreamt of it but I never thought I'd live to see it!" he hugged a box.

"Wow." Danny muttered "Somehow I'm the one with ghost powers but you're still the weird one out of the two of us."

"Ghosts are pretty common these days." Leo phased through the wall behind him "Meat seeking techno freaks are not."

"True-" then he paused "Quiet."

"It's around this corner." Leo motioned for them to follow him, allowing them to see what he was seeing.

LL was attempting to force feed Sam meat, oh the horror "My dear child meat is good for kids, it helps them grow and makes them smile. Why won't you eat it?"

"We don't need meat!" Sam said defiantly "That's nothing but fat."

"SILENCE! You need discipline, manners, respect! You know where all of that comes from? MEAT! Chicken or fish?"

"Leo and I will take care of the ghost." Danny told Tucker "You just find a way to get Sam out of that of meat."

"Way ahead of you dude." Tucker held up a knife and fork.

"Alright then, I'll go first." then Danny charged out and slugged LL in the face, sending her flying.

Leo appeared beside him "Nice uppercut."

"Right? It took me like a week to get that down. And another week for this." he charged in and fired a kick.

LL caught it with ease "Don't you see? This is why you need meat, you're nothing but skin and bones!" she threw him into a wall, then attempted to skewer him with a deadly barrage of shish kabobs.

"I've got this!" Leo pushed Danny out of the way and split his body, the shish kabobs just harmlessly passing through him "I learned that in 2 weeks."

"Can you teach me that?"

"Dude I can teach you a lot of things. We'll talk about this later, we've got other problems to deal with right now."

Sure enough, LL turned back into the meat monster and grabbed them both, then threw them through a wall, forcing them to phase through it.

"Run?" Tucker guessed.

Sam nodded "Run." then they started running, only for LL to block their way, forcing them to run in another direction.

"Guys!" Danny grabbed them both and phased through the wall.

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Leo caught up with them outside "Sorry about that, she kind of knocked me out cold for a few minutes."

"Lucky you." Danny muttered.

"Damn dude, fighting a gigantic meat monster and getting thrown through a wall must tire you out. You must be exhausted."

"What? Of course not, what would give you that idea?" then he passed out.

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At the Fenton Works, Jazz came in and was immediately assaulted by Jack and Maddie with a smoke grenade and the Fenton Ghost Weasel, only for it to do nothing but anger her.

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Danny snapped awake in his room "What's going on?"

"You passed out halfway here." Leo told him "You've been out for about 3 days."

"3 days?!"

"Relax I'm just kidding, it's only been like 3 hours."

"Knock it off!" Sam barked "It's carelessness from guys like you and Tucker that almost got Danny killed!"

"Us?" Tucker rounded on her "We almost got him killed? The only reason this happened is because _you_ had to be unique. You had to ruin a perfectly good thing and take the meat away, and now I'm going to get it back." then he stormed out.

"You want to change that menu back? You're gonna have to go through me to do it!" then she stormed out.

"...Your friends definitely know how to liven things up." Leo commented.

Danny let out a snort "Yeah, because things are so boring when you're half ghost. Anyway, I'm sure this will blow over and everything will be back to normal by tomorrow."

"Or everything will just be 10 times worse."

"...Knowing those two, that sounds about right."

"Yeah." then he turned serious "So how long have you had your powers?"

"About a month, but I still barely have any control. What about you?"

"I've had them for a year but don't worry, your powers will keep developing over time. So how did you get yours?"

"I went inside my dad's ghost portal and accidentally turned it on, and it fused some ectoplasm with my DNA and gave me ghost powers. What about you?" he noticed the mood darken.

"...I had a similar mishap, but I was alone when it happened. I didn't feel like anything had really happened so I didn't say anything to anyone. That is until about 6 months later, when my family was in a car accident. Somehow I awakened my powers and with my intangibility I was able to save myself and my brother, but my parents were…" he gripped his fist tightly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No no, it's alright. Anyway, since then I've been training with my brother to improve my ghost powers to fight off ghosts and help people, and make sure nothing like that never happens to anyone else."

"...You've had it pretty rough haven't you?"

"Yeah but that's one of the main reasons why my brother and I moved to Amity Park in the first place, to get a fresh start."

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Morning came.

Danny walked up to the school and let out a sigh at what he saw "You were right Leo, things are 10 times worse."

Leo shrugged "It's a gift, both a blessing and a curse."

What they saw you wonder? Nothing big, just two different pep rallies.

On one side:

"What do we want?"

"Meat!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

On the other side:

"Veggies now! Veggies forever! Veggies now! Veggies forever!"

And then both stormed up to him "Danny!"

"How did you guys put together two protests in one night?" asked Danny.

"Danny, we're meat eaters." Tucker pointed out "We're always ready to fight, and our high protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly and efficiently."

"...Uh huh."

Sam let out a scoff "Ultra recyclo vegetarians are always ready to protest, and because we don't have to waste time cooking our food we can move even faster!"

"Don't you guys think this is a little extreme?"

"So what if it is?"

Tucker nodded "We've got no choice buddy, you're either with me-"

"-or you're against him! So who's side-"

"-are you on?"

Then a massive whirlwind appeared out of nowhere and started sucking up meat, creating an even more massive meat monster "It's lunch time!" that was the cue for everyone to start running like hell.

Tucker actually fell to his knees "Meat, why have you betrayed me?"

"Danny, come on." Leo led him behind an abandoned truck "It's Phantom time!" he went into his ghost form.

"I'm going ghost!" Danny went into his ghost form "Your battlecry isn't bad."

"Yours either, but it could use some work." then he flew off.

"Bite me." then Danny flew off after him.

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At the same time, Jack and Maddie showed up and quickly caught Jazz using the Fenton Grappler, believing that she was still a ghost, forcing Jazz to explain to them that she wasn't one and tried to convince them to give up on ghosts.

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"Wow." said Leo "This thing is a hell of a lot bigger than I thought it was gonna be."

Meat, as the meat monster shall be called, constantly lunged at them.

"I've got this!" Danny aimed a sharp kick at Meat's head, sending it crashing to the ground.

"You're pretty good." Leo noted "Granted I've got more experience, but you're still not bad at all."

"Thanks, it takes a little bit of-" then he got punched by Meat and was almost sent hurdling into the atmosphere.

"Danny!" Leo summoned an ecto lasso and caught Danny by the leg with it "I've got a plan but I'll need you to cooperate with me on this!" he hurled him around through the air, then pulled him down at high speeds.

"And this move I like to call, **Ecto Bullet!"** he shot towards Meat, slamming into it head on and resulting in an explosion.

Once everything settled, Leo floated down and found Danny crawling out of a large crater filled with meat "Nice one."

"I've got meat juice in places I didn't know I had places."

Then LL came up to them "Oh dear what a mess, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"TOUGH! Because you being okay is not part of my balanced diet of doom!" she formed various mini Meat clones.

"Hey Leo, you up for 2 on 6?"

Leo shrugged "Works for me."

"Alright!" Danny charged at three of the Meat clones and cut them all in half with a single sharp kick "How's that?"

"Not as good as this." Leo's arms turned into long swords and he used them to easily cut down the last three Meat clones, only for them to reform "Oh crap."

"Wasn't expecting that." then Danny suddenly transformed back "Or that." then he got pulled into the air by three of the Meat clones as something hit him in the face "The Fenton Thermos? But how am I supposed to get it to work?" then they dropped him ' _Change back, change back, CHANGE BACK!'_ then he changed back "Thanks for the thermos!" then he phased through the ground right in front of his parents and sister, leaving Jack to gloat to Jazz that he was right and ghosts did exist, which ended when tons of meat fell on them.

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Danny appeared next to Leo and in front of LL "Hey Leo, you mind if I round this one up myself?"

Leo shrugged "Go ahead, do whatever you've gotta do man."

"I will." Danny held out the Fenton Thermos.

"NO!" LL barked "Soup isn't on today's menu!"

"Well guess what? I- I mean we- are changing the menu, permanently! _Please work, please work, please work!'_ he channeled some ectoplasm into the thermos, activating it.

"NOOOO!" then LL was dragged in against her will.

"...Wow."

"I'll say." Leo commented "That was cool as hell."

"What can I say? My parents have their moments."

"Everyone does." he pulled Danny up to the roof of the school building "So we don't get spotted and put on cleanup duty or something. So are you going to tell your parents about your powers?"

"No I don't think so, but I think I might have finally figured out what these powers are really for. They're not just some curse that I got from a freak accident, I'm suppose to use them to help people."

"That was what my brother said to me, you know you remind me a lot of him at times. So what do you say?" he held out his hand "Are we gonna fight off ghosts together as a team or what?"

"I think you've got a deal." Danny accepted his hand "From now on, you can go ahead and call me Danny Phantom."

"And you can call me the Phantom Blade."


	2. Skulker, Kwan and Star, Vlad

**(One of a Kind)**

A crystal clear night by the pier, or in a warehouse in the pier more specifically.

Danny promptly threw a ghost into a pile of boxes "This is boring, this isn't even a challenge. It's a cakewalk."

"Those were my exact words." Leo pointed out "Like I said, Box Ghost is just for you to get some practice in. Or for venting frustration. Or celebrating something, he's festive like that."

"Yeah but you didn't say he'd be the most annoying ghost in existence."

"Yes I did."

"You did?"

Then the Box Ghost got back up "Beware for I am the Box Ghost, I have power over all containers cardboard and square!"

"Okay man can we just get this over with? I've got a test to study for."

"Study? There will be no time for you to study when you find yourself crushed beneath the forgotten possessions of-" he checked a label "Elliot Kravets of Arlington Heights, Illinois!" he opened several boxes and shot forward what was kept inside.

Danny promptly phased through them "I don't have time for this."

"Fine, go ahead." Leo tossed him the Fenton Thermos.

"And goodnight everybody!" Danny promptly sucked Box Ghost into the thermos "Perimeter secure."

"Perimeter secure? Get with the times, we're not Navy seals."

"Seals, aquatic mammals that bark. They're canines right?"

"Nope, canines are animals like dogs and wolves. That's 9/21 so far, I'm no teacher but I'm guessing that's an F."

"Hey come on Leo, if you're gonna be my sidekick then I'm gonna need you to be a little more focused?"

"Okay firstly I'm not your sidekick, we're equals and if anything I'm your mentor. Show some respect to your senpai! And second, that's why Tucker and Sam didn't want to come with us tonight. They're your friends not your sidekicks, so treat them like it."

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Unknown to Danny and Leo, they were being watched by a ghost by the name of Skulker, a ghost hunter of all things unique, and now was setting his sights on his newest target.

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A typical morning in the Fenton household.

Leo stopped by "Hey."

"Sup?" Danny waved "Mom, dad, this is Leo, the new guy at school I was telling you about."

"Hi. So Danny, you ready for the test?"

"Dude, not in front of them!"

"What test?" Maddie sounded suspicious.

"Oh nothing big." Leo waved her off "Just your standard biology quiz, I've been studying all night with him."

"Is that so?"

"I've got a B average in most of my classes, and I think he'll get about the same so no need to worry."

"...Well alright."

"Oh my gosh, they said yes!" Jazz burst into the room, completely oblivious to Leo's presence.

Danny grinned mockingly "Who said yes, the person who asked if you were a conceited snob like everyone else knows?"

"No, Genius Magazine said yes! They got my letter and now they want to put mom on the cover!" she let out a squeal.

Leo raised an eyebrow "Genius Magazine, as in the magazine full of genius feminists who can hate on men for the sole reason of inferior brain power? Is it the swimsuit issue?"

"No! Genius Magazine is for women geniuses by women geniuses, and more importantly it's about women geniuses."

"...So I was right, it's full of feminists."

"No! And who are you anyway?"

"Leo, the guy you signed Danny up to show around last week. In other words, you're the main reason I'm here."

"...Oh crap."

"So it is the swimsuit issue." then Danny got a very disturbing image "Oh gross, mom is gonna be on the swimsuit issue?"

"It's not the swimsuit issue you dirty minded idiots, but it happens to be the perfect magazine to show that I have normal parents instead of a couple of ghost hunting freaks!"

"Hey, my brother is a ghost hunter so I take offense to that." Leo pointed out "Besides, just because they hunt ghosts doesn't make them freaks."

Danny sighed "3, 2, 1."

"Hey Danny, speaking of ghost hunting check out the latest breakthrough in ghost hunting technology." Jack snatched a device "The Ghost Gabber, Genius Magazine has to be interested in this."

"What's it do?" asked Leo.

"It takes the mysterious sounds made by ghosts and translates them into words used by us every day. Here, try it."

Danny blinked "Uh, boo."

" _I am a ghost, fear me."_

"Uh…" he received dull stares ' _Crap.'_

"We'd better get to school." Leo suggested.

"Good idea."

" _We'd better get to school, fear me. Good idea, fear me."_

"Bye!" and they took off.

"That's great about the magazine sweetie, but your father and I are a team." Maddie told her daughter "I think that beside every genius woman, there's a genius man."

Jack was instantly by her side "Who should be standing next to her on the cover of Genius Magazine! The world needs to know that the Fentons are a family of geniuses!"

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"I got a C-?" Danny cringed when he saw his test results.

"And that brings your overall grade up to a D+." Leo noted.

"Great, all of this training and ghost hunting is taking away from my study time. I can't afford to get a D in biology, my parents will have my head!"

"Not if you pull your grade up by doing an extra credit biology assignment on the endangered purple back gorilla."

"Purple back what now?"

"Purple back gorilla. Endangered and extremely rare, there are only two left in the world and they're both male. When those two are gone they become extinct, and that's why you're going to prove he deserves to be set free."

"What?"

"Sam wrote the thesis."

"I don't have time for any extra credit stuff, or Sam's goth hippy agendas."

"Actually now you do, Tucker hired himself as your time manager. Besides, school always comes first so we're putting your training on hold until you get through this assignment."

"I don't know."

"Come on, just give it a chance."

"Well I guess we could at least have a trial period."

"Good, cause we already scheduled some time for us to visit the zoo so we can check out that gorilla. Come on, let's go." he left, with Danny following.

Once they were gone, Skulker checked out the computer "Purple back gorilla, only 2 left, both male. Interesting, so this is what you're after eh ghost boys?"

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Hours passed, with no noteworthy actions at the zoo.

By this point, only Sam actually cared and was watching him intently "There he is, Sampson. So gifted, so majestic." she watched the gorilla scratch his butt "So graceful."

"The hell with it, I'm going on a snack run." and Leo promptly left.

"Your loss!"

Danny was equally bored "Come on Sam, we've been watching the gorilla majestically and gracefully scratch his ass for- How long has it been?"

Tucker let out a yawn "6 hours and counting."

"Wow, time sure does fly when you're majestically scratching your ass."

"It's only a matter of time before you find out something about Sampson that nobody has ever learned before. You should go and try to communicate with him." she looked back and saw him fast asleep on the floor "Just perfect. Tucker you're his manager, can you-" she looked and saw Tucker fast asleep next to Danny, leading them to cuddling in their sleep "Fine, I'll do it. But first…" she took a picture of them "Boys hugging makes every yearbook funny."

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Things were getting serious on another end.

Skulker watched Danny and Tucker from inside the tiger's cage ' _One ghost boy fast asleep, no sign of the other.'_

Then tiger got up and growled.

"Oh please."

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Hearing lots of growling, Sampson went over to try and see what was going on, and tried to alert the nearby Sam about it.

"What is it, you wondrous being?" Sam gushed.

Sampson kept grunting and pointing at the tiger cage.

"Is something wrong?"

Now he was pulling on the door.

"You want out?" she gladly pushed on a button and opened the door.

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Skulker looked at the now captured tiger ' _Alright, now where were we?'_ he was about to go back to stalking, only to receive a notice on his suit "What? Gorilla attacking?"

Sampson charged in and started beating on him, eventually being kicked off, then started kicking Skulker around before slamming him to the ground and biting his arm.

"Oh for the love of-" Skulker then blinded Sampson with some goo and shot out a net.

Despite being blinded, Sampson caught the net and began swinging Skulker around before the net gave out.

Skulker was sent flying into the observation tower, landing right beside Danny ' _Well isn't that convenient.'_

"Hey guys, I'm back-" Leo came in with two bags and a tray of drinks, only to see Skulker, and promptly fired an Ecto-ray, sending Skulker flying, and phasing, through a wall "Not tonight big guy, not tonight.

Despite that, Sampson began pounding on the wall.

"Well you've gotta give him points for devotion." he took out a burger and began nonchalantly munching on it.

Danny and Tucker bolted awake and yelped repeatedly when they woke up, when they realized they were cuddling, and when they saw Sampson loose "Gorilla loose! Cuddling! Terror!"

"Calm down guys, I've got this. It's phantom time!" Leo went ghost, then grabbed Sampson and pulled him through the wall "I don't know how you got out big guy and I don't care, but I do know you're going back." he put Sampson in the cage and shut the door, then made his way back to the others.

"Nice work."

"Thanks, but I wonder who let the gorilla go. Sam? Wait until everyone at school, and more importantly the cops, hear about this."

Sam held up the picture.

Leo destroyed it with a finger beam.

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By morning, Connie from Genius Magazine was interviewing Maddie "Just a few more questions Maddie, can you tell our readers what you're working on now."

"Well it's called a Ghost Gabber." Jack cut in for her "And-"

"Dad, put that thing away!" Jazz hissed "She's actually working on a new form of self generating energy, she's an amazing and intelligent woman who's about to change the world."

"Connie, my primary focus these days is ghost hunting." Maddie told her.

Connie seemed thrown off "Forgive me, did you say ghost hunting?"

"Yes, I-" then she noticed Leo and an exhausted Danny coming in "Danny look at you, I'm not sure I like this overnight zoo research."

Danny sighed "Come on mom, we're just a bunch of teenagers in the zoo alone at night. What's the worst that could happen? Don't answer that, we'll be in my room." and they left.

" _We'll be in my room, fear me."_

"Give me that!" Jazz snatched the Ghost Gabber and stuffed it under the pillow "Now then, where were we?"

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Leo led Danny up to his room "Alright big guy, now head in there and get some rest so we can get another stakeout in tonight."

"Yeah." Danny checked his phone "Tucker says I have 13 minutes."

"F*ck that, you need rest-" he paused when his Ghost Sense went off "It's your room, you're going in first."

"Coward." Danny opened his door.

Skulker was waiting on the other side "Hello ghost boys." then he caught Danny in a next and dragged him inside.

Leo found himself alone in the hallway ' _Go in and help him or go downstairs and make sure they don't come up here?'_

It was actually a serious debate when you think about it.

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Skulker towered over the now imprisoned Danny "A human ghost child in its natural habitat."

"Who the hell are you?" asked Danny.

"I am Skulker, a collector of things rare and unique. Ghost child, you are both of those and so much more." he smashed a model rocket on the ground.

"Hey my rocket, it took me a month to build that!"

"It's a true pity though, I had hoped you would put up more of a fight."

"Oh don't worry." Danny transformed and escaped the net "I will!" he stuck out his fist and suddenly fired an Ecto-ray, slamming Skulker through his wall "Hey cool, I was wonder when that power would kick in."

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Leo kept debating over what to do ' _Well I was able to send that ghost flying with one shot when he showed up back at the zoo.'_

"Hello, what's going on up there?" Jazz called.

' _Option B it is then.'_ Leo quickly rushed downstairs.

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"You know, ghost hunting isn't the only thing my parents do Connie." Jazz told her "It's really a side interest, what they're really into is-" then there was a crash.

"Ghost, ghost!" Jack bolted up "GHOST!"

That was when Leo came down "Uh…"

"Hurry and get down, there's a ghost in the house!" Maddie told him.

"What are you talking about? There's no ghost up there, Danny's just busy." and cue another crash "Lifting weights."

"He doesn't have exercise equipment up there."

"Uh…"

Then another crash, followed by "My computer! Oh wait, that's Jazz's."

"That's why he's using his computer. How about I go get us some snacks?" he rushed into the kitchen, only for Danny to fall through the ceiling "That had to hurt."

"Trust me, it did."

Then Skulker dropped down "Come ghost boy, time to see your new home." he pulled Danny through the floor.

"Well crap." then he noticed all of the others coming in "Rats, they're getting bigger with each passing day."

"What's going on?" asked Connie, followed by more crashing.

"Sounds to me like ghost rats in the lab, I'll go get rid of them." and he rushed off.

"I'd like to hear a little more about this Danny."

Jazz nearly freaked "That's probably not such a great idea!"

"I'd like to see what he's doing up there anyway." and Maddie followed after Connie.

"Wait!"

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Danny found himself locked in Skulker's death grip "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm going to bring you back to my world where I can put you on display." Skulker held up his box of creatures he captured.

"What?!"

Skulker pushed a button and activated the ghost portal "At last, the time has come for me to put you in your cage."

"NOOO!"

"Yes!"

Then Sam somehow showed up "No is right Danny, cages are wrong! How do you think Sampson feels being in a cage?"

"But-"

"He's a beautiful animal and deserves to roam free!"

"I-"

"Should be ashamed!"

"...As fun as this is…" Danny promptly kicked Skulker into a wall "So Sam, thanks for the save but where the hell did you come from?"

"She didn't." Leo suddenly appeared and held out a PDA, then promptly hit a button and caused Sam to disappear "Holograms and PDA's, gifts from the techno gods, AKA my brother."

Skulker promptly backhanded Leo into a wall, which he promptly phased through, and picked up the PDA "This technology is so sleek, so advanced. _Let's see, my stone age piece of crap or this awesome new thing. What the hell do the judges think?'_ he ripped his thing out of his arm and plugged in the PDA into his suit "Marvellous."

"Leo!" Danny charged forward.

Skulker was able to bind him to the wall with one shot.

"Oh great, thanks a lot Leo, now you just made the guy hunting my ecto covered ass even more powerful."

"Say goodbye to this world child." then Skulker heard beeping from the PDA "What the-? Fly to library and check out a book on the eating habits on the purple back gorilla?" his rocket wings suddenly sprouted "No stop, the hunt is not over!" and he flew off against his will.

Danny then found his arms and legs free "What the hell-?"

"A miracle I guess." Leo suddenly appeared "Change of plans, with the hunter here out for your hide we're cramming training into your schedule."

"Great, I can't get a minute to relax can I?"

"Danny, where are you?" Maddie called "Somebody here wants to meet you."

"Crap! My room!"

"Go ahead, I'll take care of things down here." Leo told him.

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Danny phased up to his room ' _This place is a wreck, there's no way in hell I can let them see it like this!'_

Then Maddie opened the door "Danny, this is Connie from Genius Magazine."

"Don't you people ever knock?" Danny promptly slammed the door "Oh my god, Jazz is so going to kill me for that."

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"I am so going to kill him for that." Jazz vowed.

Connie, however, seemed intrigued by this "Brooding, messy _and_ reclusive? Those are all the signs of a true genius! Honestly if only he were a woman."

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Morning came.

Danny looked around the entrance to the school for any signs of Skulker "Any sign of him yet?"

"Nothing yet." Leo told him "Besides, if you saw him then your ghost sense would be going off right now. He hasn't tried to capture you in a full 38 minutes. Maybe he moved on to somebody else. Or his employer."

"He's an employer?"

"Some of the time, but that's not important." he checked the schedule "Come on, we're gonna be late for english." and they left.

Once they were gone, Skulker appeared "Soon ghost boy, very soon."

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Danny sighed as he went to his locker ' _Another day, another C-.'_ he opened it, only to be bound by chains ' _Crap.'_

Then Skulker appeared "I have you now child!" then the beeping on the PDA "What- Go to the newsstand and purchase with article on purple back gorillas? Oh son of a-" then he flew off against his will.

Danny found himself free "Weird."

"I'll say, I've got the same thing on my PDA."

"Let's blow that one off."

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Later, Leo was having lunch with Danny outside "That was weird."

"I'll say." Danny muttered.

"You really should eat something you know."

"Yeah like I can, he could be anywhere."

"And you'll only fare even worse without anything in your stomach." he tossed Danny a soda.

"...Fine." he cracked open the soda, only for an ecto net to cover his face "Oh come on!"

Then Skulker appeared "Now then boy, once more I Skulker shall-" then the very familiar beeping "-take photos of gorilla?" then he took off.

"This is getting more and more weird by the minute."

"You've gotta give him points for being regular." then Leo felt it hit him "Almost like a schedule."

"Yeah you're right. You don't think-"

"When Skulker plugged that PDA into his suit he became bound to the schedule I set up for you, now he has to go where you were supposed to go next. Now then, let's turn the hunter into the hunted."

"We're gonna do something a little bit ahead of schedule."

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Nightfall came, and the plan was about to be set into motion.

Skulker was impatiently watching Sampson scratch his ass "Where is he? According to this infernal device that I can't reprogram no matter how hard I try, the ghost boy was supposed to be here an hour ago!" he dropped to the ground "You were supposed to be the bait you stupid animal!"

Sampson turned around, revealing Leo in a gorilla costume "Sampson is not stupid, and he's also not here. Can I take a message?"

"You're the other ghost boy, you'll pay for this!"

"I think not." he sent a message to the PDA on Skulker's suit.

"Wait, time for push ups?" he started doing push ups against his will "No, stop! I can't stop!"

"I can help with that!" Danny suddenly appeared and blasted Skulker with an Ecto ray to the face, slamming him into the cage walls, followed by a vicious barrage of punches before he broke away "How do you like that one?"

"You little-!" Skulker prepared to fire his missile launcher.

"I don't think so." Leo sent out an update "10:12, polish armor."

"What?" Skulker began polishing his own face against his will.

"This is awesome, totally worth sneaking into a gorilla cage in the middle of the night."

"Dammit Leo, stop joking around!" Danny barked "Power him down already!"

"Relax Danny, everything is totally under-" he suddenly found his PDA pinned to the cage wall by an arrow "-control. Well, f*ck."

"Leo, you're fired."

Now Skulker was losing his patience "Very well, I had originally planned on simply capturing you and letting you live out the rest of your life in a cage but now I will rest your pelt at the foot of my bed!"

"Okay, that's just gross."

"Well ghost boy, any last words?"

"Words? No. Signals? Several." he patted his head and then started beating his chest, followed by scratching his butt.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling a friend to kick your ass."

Then Sampson came down and started beating on Skulker.

"Thank you Sampson." Danny promptly leapt over to the side.

Leo raised an eyebrow "You figured out how to communicate with him?"

"It's not that hard, all he ever does is scratch his ass."

"You took this long to figure it out, no wonder you're a D student. But there's one thing I don't get about this whole thing."

"What's that?"

"Why the hell would a ghost need a high tech battle suit?"

"How should I know?"

Then Skulker's severed head flew into Danny's arms, emitting a squeaky voice with legs sticking out of it "Let me go! I am the Skulker, the Skulker! Do you hear me? Fear me!"

"What the-?" Danny pulled out a small green blob with arms and legs.

"I am the greatest hunter in all of the Ghost Zone, you will all fear me!"

"...Leo, thermos."

"Thermos." Leo threw it to him.

"Thank you." Danny promptly sucked Skulker in.

"You haven't seen the last of me, I shall capture you all! You shall all be mine, mine do you hear me? Mine!" and he disappeared inside the thermos.

"You were right, there are some benefits to training. Now then, let's hit up the Nasty Burger then head home."

"Are you sure?" asked Leo "I'm all for a late night burger run but you didn't find anything on the big guy for your project, you're still gonna have a D."

"Well I wouldn't worry about it. We stopped the bad guy and saved the gorilla, if that's all we got done then that's o- OH MY GOD!" he covered his eyes "I'm blind!"

"...Well on the bright side at least your sister will have someone in your family to put on the cover of Genius Magazine."

"Shut up!"

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Mr Lancer read the article out loud "Brooding genius Daniel Fenton did what no other researcher dared to do, got close enough to this rare purple back gorilla to realize that Samson was actually a Delilah. Hold on, so nobody at that zoo ever bothered to check and see if it was a boy or a girl?"

Danny shrugged "Trust me Mr Lancer, Leo and I are just as shocked as you. But you never know, they might have just been respecting her privacy."

"Well I have to admit Mr Fenton, I'm impressed. You were so adamant about getting your grade up that you risked getting mauled by a gorilla. And considering everything else you went through, I'd say that's worthy of this." he handed Danny the paper "B."

"...Hang on a minute, so I nearly get beaten within an inch of my life by a gorilla woman and nearly blackmailed by my goth crush- You didn't hear that last part- and all I get out of it is 5 pounds of Nasty burgers and a B?"

"I can change it back if you-"

"NO!"

"Life's a big mystery isn't it Mr Fenton? Here's a word of advice, the next time you want to get your grade up why don't you try the library." then class ended and he left.

"...High school sucks."

Leo shrugged "Just wait, it gets worse. But look on the bright side, that B pulled your grade up to a solid C. Let's head down to the Nasty Burger and celebrate."

"Yeah I guess-"

"I AM THE BOX GHOST! And once I empty you of your useless papers, your marvellous squareness shall be mine!"

"...How much time do I have before Dash tries to wail on me?"

Leo checked his watch "5 minutes."

"Which is 4 ½ more than I'll need." he then transformed and proceeded to take his anger out on the Box Ghost.

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 **(Micromanagement)**

A beautiful day in Amity Park.

The sun was shining and the birds were singing.

Oh, and Danny was running through the park while looking like he'd gotten the crap stomped out of him "So Leo, how's that 6 minute mile coming so far?"

Leo ran up alongside him, going backwards as if to mock him "At the moment, 8 minutes and counting."

"This is just embarrassing."

"Hey you asked me to train you and teach you what I know about using your ghost powers, if you wanna take on the bad guys that I've been struggling with then you're gonna have to get stronger in your human form, that way your ghost form won't suffer as much from lack of stamina or physical durability. Besides, you'll get more street cred at school if you build up some muscle definition."

"I know but-"

An Ecto ray cut them off, courtesy of Skulker "We meet again ghost child, I saw you running and couldn't find a reason not to give you something to run from!"

Danny promptly fired an Ecto Ray, destroying one of his wings and sending him crashing into a nearby dumpster "Let's see jackass jocks like Dash or Kwan do that!" then he went ghost and charged, charging energy into both hands and clasping them together "Get a lod of my new **Ecto Cannon!"** he fired a stronger Ecto Ray, slamming Skulker through a nearby wall and destroying the other wing, before following up with a combo that destroyed both his left hand and his right leg "Damn Skulker you're pretty powerless without your suit, maybe you need to learn to rely on your natural abilities. Leo, thermos."

"Thermos." Leo then sucked Skulker into the Fenton Thermos "Nice work, good use of your new Ecto Cannon. Oh and by the way, speaking of natural abilities."

"...Why do I feel like I'm going to hate every minute of this?"

"Because you are."

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Danny soon found himself struggling to do pull ups in the school gym "I think… I liked fighting Skulker… better… How many was that?"

"2." Leo then did 10 with ease "Alright, now for 3 laps around the track."

Danny promptly fell to the ground.

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By this point, Skulker was gearing up his suit and equipment with all sorts of new gadgets in order to destroy Danny, and then Leo.

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Danny later struggled to climb the rope, and promptly fell on his ass "Ow."

"Not bad, you got about ⅗ of the way." Leo noted.

"I don't think she's gonna feel the same way."

Then their gym teacher Tetslaff stormed up "Listen up people, this has to be the worst display of physical fitness I've ever seen in all my days at Casper High! And because of that, I'm assigning both of you to the fitness buddy program."

"Wait a minute, Leo needs a fitness buddy?"

"No, he _is_ a fitness buddy. Star, Kwan, get over here!"

Then Kwan and Star came over "What's up?"

"Star to be blunt your scores in this class are pathetic, that's why Hunter here is gonna be your fitness buddy."

Star eyed Leo for a moment, then smirked "Cool."

"Kwan, you're helping to whip Fenton over there into shape."

Danny gulped "...I think I might be coming down with something."

Kwan grinned and helped him up "Yeah, that being a severe case of ab crunches. Hey by the way coach, is broken in half considered a shape?"

' _F*ck.'_

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Back in the Fenton household, Jazz was working out using a virtual reality helmet while Jack was finishing the Fenton Crammer, designed to shrink ghosts.

He then went to put on the finishing touches, and eat a whole pizza himself, up in the Ops Center.

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Star was getting through her 5th set up push ups "Just… one… more…"

"That's enough." Leo put his foot on her back to stop her "I think you've gone through enough of those."

"You're supposed to be… coaching me…"

"Yeah, I'm your coach not a slave driver. I know when people have reached their limit."

"Well then can you help me up?"

"I've got a better idea. Hey Danny, give her a hand."

"Alright." Danny clapped for her mockingly.

"Hilarious." Star said dryly "But then again, I suppose you can afford to be when you two have superpowers."

"...What?"

"That's right, I know everything and Kwan does too."

"...Come on, we'll take about this somewhere else." Leo told her, for once appearing deadly serious, at least for the first time since they had known him.

"Nasty Burger?"

"Maybe this won't be so bad."

"Can you fly me there?"

"Still not so bad." he transformed, then took Star into his arms and took off into the sky.

Danny let out a sigh "And suddenly I'm alone."

"Not for long."

Danny looked to see Kwan hopping over the fence behind him "How long have you known about me and Leo?"

"Your powers? Since that meat monster showed up. We saw you guys transforming on the school roof."

"Please tell me you-" then his ghost sense activated "Hold on."

"Ghost child!" then a pissed off Skulker showed up and fired his missile launcher.

"Kwan, hold on!" Danny turned them both intangible, leaving them both unharmed but standing in a crater "Great, and I just sent him back to the Ghost Zone yesterday."

"Who or what exactly is this guy?" asked Kwan.

"Short version, ghost hunter who wants my hide. Hold on, I've gotta find some place to do this. We'll talk more later." then he started faking "Oh no, ghost! Run, run, it's a ghost!" and he quickly ran off.

Kwan could only cower.

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Jack was putting the finishing touches on the Fenton Crammer ' _Well that's finally done, and now for the pizza.'_ he was about to eat a slice, when…

"Run, run, it's a ghost!"

"Sounds like Danny is in mortal danger from some ghost. Cool, I get to play with my new weapon- I mean, save my son!"

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Danny hid himself in an alley "I'm going ghost!" and he transformed and flew after Skulker as he was chasing Kwan down the street, only to see random objects shrinking "What the hell is that? Nevermind, I've got ass to kick." he charged at Skulker.

"I don't think so!" Skulker grabbed him by the face and slammed him to the ground, only for both of them to suddenly be shrunk.

"Awesome!" then Kwan got shrunk as well "...I don't know if this is freaky or awesome, so I'm gonna say both. Awesome!" then he screamed in terror.

"What is this? What did you do?"

Danny got back to his feet "I didn't, he did!"

"No matter." Skulker drew blades out of his hands "Big or small, I will still have your head in my trophy room."

"...As much as I love that image, I've got a much better one. **Ecto Cannon!"** he fired an Ecto Cannon, slamming Skulker into a soda can "Kwan come on, we've gotta move."

"...You know, as terrifying as this is it's also cool as hell." Kwan commented.

"You get used to it." he then grabbed Kwan and flew down the street, eventually reaching the fence surrounding his backyard.

"You're not getting away!" Skulker fired a barrage of missles.

Danny quickly flew them through a hole and retreated back towards the ground.

' _Where is he?'_ his scanner homed in on them down below ' _Found them!'_

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Danny was flying with Kwan along the grass "Hopefully he won't spot us all the way down here."

"I've never known you to be this thorough Fenton." Kwan noted "And now back to freaking out. We're dead, we. Are. Dead! Both dead! Both gonna die! Dead men be we! A cornucopia of pain and despair is coming our way to ensure our demise! We are so going to die! WHY?!"

"Will you shut up?! We're gonna be fine, all we have to do is get into the my house and unshrink ourselves." then they fell to the ground "Which is now significantly harder. Okay, that wasn't normal. Must've been the windsheer. Come on, let's go on foot from here." and they took off running.

Skulker watched this, intrigued "Strange, he seems to be losing his ghostly power." then he got grabbed by a bird and found that he couldn't phase himself free "And so am I. My suit on the other hand is working fine! Advantage Skulker!" he then tied the bird's claws together and activated his rocket wings.

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Leo let out a sigh as he munched on a burger after explaining how he got his powers "And that's about it."

"Wow." Star muttered "So then…"

"Yeah."

"I-I'm sorry for prying."

"It's alright, really. Of course I still miss them and I always will, but I'm trying to make them proud by using my gift and/or curse to help people. You and the big guy never told anyone did you?"

"Are you kidding, who would believe us if we told them the new guy and Fenton were ghosts?"

"True, and that's one of the main reasons why I never tell anyone." then he stood "Well come on, let's go."

"Where to?"

"Where else, I'm supposed to be training you remember?"

"...Oh crap."

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Kwan stopped running to take a breath "How much further to the house?"

Danny checked from atop a blade of grass "Looks like 10 feet, or more like 10 years at the pace we're going."

"Let me shorten that for you!" Skulker dove down and fired a barrage of missiles.

"Kwan, hang on!" Danny grabbed him and fired an Ecto Ray, destroying the missiles, the force pushing them to right outside the house "Alright, hold onto me and I'll use my powers to phase us through the door." he tried, and failed miserable "Okay, I know we can't blame the wind this time. There's definitely something wrong." then he saw a blade edge itself into the door right next to his face and looked back to see Skulker firing a volley of them "Crap." he fired an Ecto Ray to destroy some of them "He's closing in fast, we've gotta find some other way inside."

"Hold on." Kwan looked around "Over there, I see a mouse hole!"

"We have mice? Nevermind, run!"

"Forget that, fly!"

"I can't!"

"What?"

"Just run, it's good for your heart!" they ran through the mouse hole.

"Don't think you can escape whelp!" Skulker flew in after them.

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The mouse hole was pitch black, so Danny used an Ecto ball as a light source "Good, I think we lost him."

"What kind of mouse hole is this?" Kwan muttered "Where's the matchbox sofa and the coffee table made from a spool of thread?"

"...Dude, you watch way too many cartoons."

"No, Dash forces me to watch way too many cartoons."

"What's the difference?" he heard a growling noise and looked back to see an angry mouse approaching them.

As it to make matters worse, that was when Skulker showed up "Looking for me?"

"Not really no!" Danny prepared to fire an Ecto Ray, only for it to dissipate "Oh crap, that shrink ray must've shorted out my powers."

"Maybe you need to rely on your natural abilities."

"Will you just let it go already!" then it turned pitch black again.

"I can't see anything!" Kwan cried out.

"Kwan, get down!" then there was a phasing noise.

"Say farewell ghost child!" Skulker ignited a flare , only for Danny to be nowhere in sight.

Kwan looked around "Where did he go?"

"Well I was planning to hunt the ghost child, but I could just as easily mount your tiny head in my trophy room."

"Gross."

"You've got that right." then the mouse showed up, his eyes now green instead of red "Hurry and get back!" he then tail whacked Skulker into a wall.

Kwan picked up the flare "That was awesome Fenton, you took over the mouse!"

"Not… for long…" then Danny suddenly got pushed out and slammed into a wall ' _Come on Fenton, think!'_ he looked and saw a crack leading into the kitchen "Kwan head towards that crack, I've got an idea." he grabbed the flare and a nearby block of cheese and then ran over towards Skulker "Hey dude hold these for a minute will you?" then he ran off.

Skulker found the mouse looming over him just as the flare went out "This bodes very poorly for me."

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Danny quickly led Kwan into the kitchen "Okay, there's a button that can lead us straight up to the Ops Center so-"

"I can't do this." Kwan promptly sat down "I can't."

"Kwan-"

"I swear I'm gonna go into that DBZ Abridged death rant again."

"Kwan, stop it." Danny let out a long sigh "Look, I've got enough on my plate without you having some kind of mental breakdown. First we've gotta deal with Skulker, then get back to full size, then make sure you don't rat out me and Leo."

"Dude, I was never gonna rat you out. The main reason I came over was to say, well, I'm sorry for always picking on you."

"You mean standing by while Dash picked on me and not doing anything to stop it?"

"Yeah. It's not like I like picking on kids, I'm just trying to fit in with the popular kids."

"Well if you have to pick on others to be their friend then maybe they're not real friends. Maybe we can be when this whole thing is over, but first I'll need your help because I'm not strong enough to do this on my own. So for now, fitness buddies?" he held out his hand.

Kwan accepted the hand "Fitness buddies."

"Cool." then he noticed his boots transform back into regular sneakers "What the-?"

"What's that about?"

"I'm not sure." then he leapt out of the way to avoid a gigantic foot.

"What the-?"

As it turns out, Jazz was using the virtual reality helmet to exercise "And 1, and 2, keep moving, keep sweating!" she shook the sweat out of her hair, causing it to fall to the floor.

"Hot girl sweat!"

"Dude that's my sister!" Danny ran to avoid the sweat, with Kwan following, leading them to the other side of the kitchen.

Unfortunately, Skulker chose that moment to come out on the now tamed mouse "Now then, to the hunt!" and he charged.

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Leo watched as Star was doing pull ups "You're only at 7, I'm getting you up to 20."

"Fine…" Star grumbled "So have you actually fought any ghosts before you moved to Amity Park?"

"Of course, don't forget that I had my powers for a full year before I left California. But to be real, I only fought like five. They were Technus, Desiree, Ember, the Fright Knight and Walker. Technus is a ghost that controls tech, Desiree is a wishing ghost, Ember is-"

"That crazy teen idol that everyone went batshit crazy over?"

"Yep. Anyway, the Fight Knight is basically what you'd imagine from your typical Halloween ghost in a knight's suit of armor and Walker is the tyrannical leader of the Ghost Zone prison."

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"Run run run run run!" Danny and Kwan kept running through the kitchen.

Skulker kept chasing them on his mouse "Go on and keep running whelps, I'm about to make mouse meat out of you!"

"It's mince meat you ghostly bonehead!"

"Not this time it's not."

"Corner!" Danny and Kwan rounded a corner.

Skulker tried to round it, but he and the mouse slammed into the wall.

That was when Maddie showed up and pulled out an ecto broom "You filthy animal, you are not leaving mouse droppings all over my clean kitchen!" she slammed down the broom, creating a gigantic dust bunny.

"Dust bunny, jump!" they leapt up, avoiding the dust bunny.

"Damn, nice air." said Kwan.

"Thanks." then he saw his pants turn back "Great, now it's casual Friday."

"Today's Tuesday."

"Really? I thought it was Thursday. Nevermind that now, I'm losing so much power that I'm reverting back to my human form." then they got run over by another dust bunny and landed on a grassy surface.

"Well that's just great, now we're back outside."

"Hold on a minute." Danny checked something "This isn't real grass."

"And what's with all the golf balls?"

"...Oh crap."

As it turns out, Jack was about to line it up "Jack Fenton on the 18th green field of the Ecto Invitational, if he sinks this then it's all over but the ghost hunting."

"Hide!"

"Where?" asked Kwan.

"Clearly you've never seen this guy play golf, the only safe place is the hole!" they leapt into the hole, the balls all storming past.

"Man, is everyone in this family this bad a sports?" he received a glare "What? I'm just speaking the truth, I mean you could barely do 2 pull ups."

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Leo posted pictures."

"...He's so dead."

"And so are we if we don't keep moving."

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Leo watched as Star was doing push ups, then got a call on his phone "You've got the Hunter, whose ass do you want me to kick? Oh hey Danny, yeah Star's cool so don't worry about her. How are things going with Kwan? Oh really? In the hole? I knew he was bad but I didn't know he was that bad. Oh for real? Well have fun with that." then he hung up.

"What's going on?" asked Star.

"Oh nothing big, just that Danny and Kwan got shrunk and now they're being hunted through the house by Skulker and a giant mouse."

"...Aren't you gonna help him?"

"No need, he's got this covered."

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Danny angrily put his phone in his pocket "He is so dead." they climbed up to a certain step.

Kwan breathed a sigh of relief "We did it."

"But we're not nearly close enough, we're only like half way." then his shirt changed back to a t shirt.

"How many costume changes are you gonna go through? Come on man, this isn't Vegas."

"How do you think I feel?"

Then Skulker showed up "Enough of this." and he fired two missiles.

"Move!" they dodged and raced up the stairs and into Danny's room, attempting to shut the door so Skulker couldn't get in.

"Very well." Skulker then flew outside through the door, unaware that he was being watched.

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Danny led Kwan towards the open window "Hurry, out the window and up to the Ops Center."

"Right." Kwan started climbing a small rope outside the window.

"It doesn't look like Skulker is following us, so he must be coming around the back." then he saw a bag of chips "That gives me an idea." he pulled the bag towards the ledge "Hey Skulker, you still think your abilities beat mine?" he tipped the bag over the ledge.

Skulker suddenly found it raining chips "Lime and vinegar? Who eats those?" he blasted the chips apart with his missiles.

"People with no taste buds!" Danny then threw the bag itself over.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Skulker was trapped in the bag and sent sailing down towards the ground, angrily cutting himself free.

"Okay, that bought us some time but not much." Danny leapt onto the ledge "Come on, let's move."

"Right." Kwan leapt onto the ledge but lost his balance.

"I gotcha!" Danny caught him "1… 2… 3!" he pulled Kwan onto the ledge, just as the back of his hair turned black "Oh great, I'm one makeover away from being completely powerless."

"Well to be fair that's not very different from how you are now."

"...Just help me with the window." with great strain, they opened the window.

"We did it! Hey, what do you think we just benched? Proportionally I mean."

"I don't know dude, Leo's coaching me in gym not anything else. I'm not that good at math."

Then Skulker came up "Soon you won't be that good at breathing either!" luckily, well not for him, he got attacked by the pissed off rat he had tamed earlier "What the-? Get off me!" then he got sent flying away.

"...Well that bought us some time." then he saw the Fenton Crammer "That's gotta be the device."

"And that's how we're gonna get to it." Kwan pointed to where the cheese on a slice of pizza was dripping all the way down to the floor.

"Fair enough!" they ran over and began climbing the pizza.

Then Skulker was thrown through a window while wrestling with the mouse, his wings now damaged "Thank you for opening the window for me, your services are no longer needed." so he bound the mouse to the wall with ecto goo, then turned to the others "You'll never be able to climb fast enough to save yourselves!" he began climbing after them.

"Finally." Danny reached the top, only to nearly completely transform back, with only his eyes still being green.

"Dude!" then Kwan came up "Get inside the thing, I'll figure it out."

"Fine." Danny ran inside the machine, just as his eyes turned back to normal "Just flip it to uncram and push the trigger."

"Right!" Kwan began pushing on the trigger.

"You can't escape me!" then Skulker stormed up to the counter "I'm faster than you, I'm stronger than you, and you're weak, you hear me? WEAK!"

"We'll see about that!" Kwan pushed on the trigger as hard as he could, resulting in a white light.

When it was over, Danny was at full size once more, now back in his completely restored ghost form "Actually Skulker, I'm a lot stronger than I thought." he grabbed Skulker and flicked him into the freezer, then closed the door.

"Nice!" Kwan gave a thumbs up, soon returned to his normal size "Way to go Fenton, that was awesome."

"Yeah, well I couldn't have done it without you so thanks. And call me Danny, it's what my friends call me after all."

Kwan grinned "Sure thing Fen- I mean Danny. Hey, you think this pizza's still good?"

"It's been sitting there for hours and we ran all over it."

"What's your point?"

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Tetslaff observed Danny and Star taking the fitness test, then checked their time "Not bad, I've seen worse. It's not record time, but it's good enough to pass."

"Thanks…" they breathed.

"Not you two." then she turned to Leo and Kwan "You two. Good job whipping these wimps into shape."

Leo shrugged "No worries, and a lot of good came out of it."

Kwan smiled "I'll say."

"Alright then… checklist…" Danny breathed "Ghost is beaten…"

"Test is passed…" Star panted.

"Sense of self worth is restored…"

"Faint now?"

"I'd like that…" then they both passed out.

"Alright, now to celebrate." Leo pulled out a root beer and a bucket of ice out of nowhere and poured some ice in, one of the icecubes holding a frozen Skulker, and then prepared to down the cup.

Skulker's screams went unheard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **(Bitter Reunions)**

A calm night in Amity Park.

Danny was on his way home "Finally, a single night where I get to make it home on time without any ghost detours making me miss my 10:00 curfew." and as if on cue, his ghost sense then went off "Oh for- Leo."

"I'm on it." Leo, who had been flying above him in his ghost form on patrol, then flew off to see what was going on.

"Thanks." then Danny left.

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Leo found three vulture ghosts scaring random people "Hey you guys look lost, any chance you'd stay that way?"

"Mind your own business you fancy pants ghost boy!" and they dove down and hid on a bus.

"Well this is turning into something annoying." he followed them onto the bus, only to find the three vultures in an argument.

"Hey we've been circling this town for hours, we could've been halfway to Florida by now! Ask for directions."

"I know where I'm going!"

"You so do not, just as him!" one of them point at Leo.

"Ask me what?"

They took to the skies, only to be followed by Leo "Oh for the love of- We are on a search and destroy mission, can you help us find and peck to death this guy here?" he held up a picture of Jack.

"Wait, Danny's dad?"

One of them grinned "See? I told you he'd know where he is!" he dodged an Ecto Ray "Nice try kid, get him boys!" they charged in and began circling around him.

"Give it your best shot boys, I'm a god in dodgeball!" he quickly dodged a lunge, causing two of them to crash into each other "Okay technically it's dodge beak, but who really cares? I just have to lean and you kick your own asses." he started flying around in an attempt to lose them, only to see the clock "Crap, I was so busy covering for Danny that I forgot about my own curfew!" done wasting time, he grabbed one of them by the feet "You ever hear that old saying about the bird that got its ass kicked?" he swung him into the others "The end, now get out of here and don't go messing up any windshields on your way out of town!" he was quick to catch the falling picture of Jack "Weird, I wonder why those guys were trying to waste Danny's dad." then he saw the clock "Maybe for the same reason Raph is about to waste me."

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Leo slowly climbed through a window in his apartment, turning invisible ' _Please don't let him see me, please don't let him see me.'_

"I don't have to see you to know you're there."

' _Dammit!'_ he looked and saw Raphael calmly sitting on the couch "Hey."

"You're late."

"So you noticed. Crap." guess what he got on the back of the head, courtesy of the vultures "You sons of-" he fired a stray blast out of spite.

"I get that you're bonding with Danny because you're both half ghost but you can't shirk from your regular responsibilities like that. So as your older brother and legal guardian, I have to punish you with this." he held up a flier.

"20 year college reunion?"

"Dad's college reunion in Wisconsin, his old friend Vlad Masters is throwing a huge party there for everyone. We're taking the RV."

"But dad is…"

"Yeah and he knows that, maybe they want to see us. In any case, Vlad has a good side to him, which is saying a lot for a business tycoon, and he's an old friend of dad."

"...We are talking about Vlad Masters, the guy who was named billionaire of the year by Affluence Magazine, right?"

"Yep."

"Crap."

"Don't worry, he comes off as pretty down to earth."

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2 days of travel later, they arrived at Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin.

Raphael led Leonardo to the front door "Remember, best behavior in front of him."

Leo looked at the mansion "I can see why."

Then Vlad stepped out "Raphael, good to see you again my boy. And you must be young Leonardo, I've so been looking forward to meeting you." he hung his head "I was so sorry to hear about your parents, your father was someone I cared very much about and your mother as well."

Raphael smiled sadly "Thank you Mr Masters, but I can assure you that we're doing just fine. I'm a successful real estate agent, as you can see." he pointed to the card.

"So I can see. Please boys, do come in." he led them inside.

Leo looked at the surrounding decorations "Green and gold, football helmets, jerseys, cheese heads, you're a Packers fanatic?"

"Oh fanatic is such a negative word, but yes that is accurate."

"But I don't understand, you have billions of dollars. You might as well just buy the team and all of this stuff would come with it."

"I would, the only problem there is that the Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay and they won't sell them to me."

"Well people from Green Bay are as stubborn as an army of angry mules."

"I'm well aware of that thanks to personal experience." then he heard a car pull up "Oh, Jack and Maddie must be here. If you boys will excuse me." and he went outside.

"...I don't like this, I've got a bad feeling about something."

"What do you mean?" asked Raph.

"I feel chills going up my spine every time he's near me, I can't really explain it."

"Right this way." Vlad then led Danny, Jazz and Maddie inside, ignoring Jack's calls from outside the door.

"Let me guess, you got dragged here too?"

Danny sighed "Yep, what's your deal?"

"Punishment for being late for curfew. You?"

"My sister's idea."

Jazz looked around "So what's up with the green and gold? You're a billionaire, surely you could afford an interior designer."

"Come on Jazz, think for a minute. Football helmets, jerseys, cheeseheads, it's so obvious that the guy is a Packers fanatic." he looked to where Jack was calling from outside.

Vlad patted Danny on the head "Oh fanatic is such a negative word to use, but that is accurate yes."

"I don't understand though." Jazz commented "You have billions of dollars, instead of buying this stuff why don't you just buy the team instead?"

"Because the Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay and they won't sell them to me." note how bitter he sounded when he said this, yet he quickly recovered and turned his attention over towards Maddie "One of two things that my vast wealth has not, as of yet, been able to acquire for me."

Danny cringed as he watched Maddie rush away to let Jack in "Oh god, he's hitting on my mom."

"Not like it means anything." Leo pointed out "He's got working toilets and your mother is a devoted and married woman, I highly doubt it's going to be a problem. Your dad might not be the brightest bulb in the Ghost Zone, but he's got his redeeming qualities. But in the meantime, check this out." Leo knelt down behind an autographed football "This thing is practically awesomeness incarnate."

"Indeed it is." Vlad came towards them and picked it up "This ball was autographed by the legendary Ray Nitschke himself, it's my prized possession."

"Then you might wanna watch out."

"For what?"

"Well-"

"Heads up V Man!" Jack tackled Vlad to the ground.

"That."

"Alright, I see you've still got the old moves."

"Give me that!" Vlad snatched the football away and put it back on its pedestal "I never had any old moves, all of those years in the hospital robbed me of that!" then he managed to calm down considerably "Yes, well it also gave me time to chart out a course for my life didn't it? Make some decisions that helped to make me very wealthy very quickly, and it never would have happened without you Jack."

"...Yeah, maybe we should go." Maddie suggested awkwardly.

"Oh no no, you should stay with me. That's the whole reason why I'm throwing the reunion here in my castle in the first place, previously home to the legendary Wisconsin dairy king. Just so I could reconnect with you Jack, I insist that you stay."

Jack was rather skeptical "Well I don't know, we do have a really cool RV."

"Let's stay here." Jazz blurted out within a fake sneeze.

"Smooth." Leo noted dryly, then fist bumped with Danny.

Vlad smirked "You know Jack, the ghost of the dairy king may very well be haunting these very walls."

"I'll get the bags!" then Jack rushed off.

' _Like a total sucker.'_ then Vlad looked at Leo and Raph "And I must insist that you boys stay here as well, it's the least I could do for the sons of a dear old friend."

"What are you talking about?" asked Maddie.

This actually took Vlad by surprise "Wait, you mean you didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?"

"Maddie, they're Benjamin's sons."

Maddie let out a small gasp.

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Nightfall came, and almost everyone was fast asleep.

Leo was having a late night talk with Danny "My brother told me the whole story on the way here, apparently my dad went to college with Vlad and your parents in Wisconsin and they met my mom."

"What was she like?" asked Danny.

"She was the best, a warm caring woman who never really got angry, at least not from what I ever saw. My dad was an awesome ghost hunter too, highly skilled and experienced and the people respected him greatly for beating back ghosts like Technus and Skulker. They were basically college sweethearts and Vlad was the best man at their wedding, your parents were there too but they fell out of touch with mine after they moved to California. Then came the accident and Vlad even went out of his way to come to their funeral, but I don't even think your parents knew about it." then his Ghost Sense went off, this time red "Dude."

"Yeah." then Danny's regular blue Ghost Sense went off "Well this is perfect, I so totally wanted to have a working vacation."

"You call it work, I call it stress relief." Leo flashed into his ghost form "Alright, let's get moving."

"Right behind you." Danny flashed into his ghost form.

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' _Bathroom, bathroom, bathroom…'_ guess what Jack was looking for.

The three ghost vultures were stalking him, waiting to make their move, only to see Jack disappear through the floor "Hey what gives?"

"I give." Leo then appeared behind them, with Danny right beside them "Hey guys, you remember me and my trusty sidekick?"

They stared, then squawked in terror and ran away.

"Okay, I know for a fact that there isn't a single ghost that should be scared off that easily aside from the Box Ghost."

"Very sharp I must admit."

Leo looked back to see another ghostly figure, who shall for now be referred to as Plasmius, floating behind him "Well I was aiming for those flying ghost rats as payback for crapping on my head, but I guess you'll have to do. Danny, Formation C!" he took to the left.

"Got it!" Danny took to the right, and both charged forward.

Plasmius caught fists with ease and slammed them both into opposite walls "So you both even went so far as to come up with battle formations, much more organized than I expected I have to admit."

"Damn, he's fast." Leo muttered "Alright, I guess I'd better stop fooling around. Danny, this is a Formation B." he crossed his arms over his chest, and then a second copy of himself appeared and both charged.

Plasmius blasted through one of them and grabbed Leo by the neck, throwing him into where Danny was still in the wall, causing them to slide to the ground "My vultures were supposed to bring the big idiot to me but I suppose the two of you will have to do, Danny Phantom and the Phantom Blade."

"You… You know us?" asked Danny "And you know our names?"

"Of course I know the two of you." Plasmius phased through a wall.

"Come on." Leo went after him into the private study, with Danny following.

"You're the ghost boys who use their powers for good, how very quaint of you both. Aren't you going to try to shove me into your ridiculous thermos?"

"I… I don't want to fight you." Danny stated, though it didn't come out sounding anywhere near as firm as he would've liked.

"Oh believe me, you don't." Plasmius fired an Ecto Ray from each hand, sending them both tumbling back.

"Back off!" Leo fired an Ecto Cannon.

Plasmius raised an ecto shield "An enhanced version of a simple Ectoplasmic energy blast, so year 2. Tell me boys, can you do this yet?" he then split into 4 of himself.

Danny was the first one to regain his voice "No I can't, how can you?"

"Years of practice, which the two of you unfortunately have no time for." they all fired a series of simultaneous Ecto Rays, hitting them both dead on and causing them to fall to the ground, before retracting the copies and finishing up the assault with two simultaneous Ecto Rays, sending them both phasing through the door.

Both collapsed to the ground out cold and transformed back.

Plasmius' eyes shot wide "That ghost boy is Jack's son… and the other one is Benjamin's son is he?" then he suddenly transformed, revealing Vlad in his place "Well this is quite an unexpected development."

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"No… No… Get away… Danny!" Leo suddenly bolted up "What… What happened?"

"I was about to ask you the same question young man." Vlad stepped out from the shadows.

"Oh sorry, I was probably just worn out from the long car trip. Sorry for the scare, I'll be okay in the morning."

"Oh what's a little scare between friends son? You were calling out for that young Fenton boy in your sleep a great deal, I checked in on him earlier and he's just fine so don't worry."

"Well that's a relief."

"Indeed it is. Please, get some rest." and Vlad walked out of the room ' _Benjamin, your son truly does surpass expectations. The other one on the other hand…'_

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Nightfall came, and the reunion was in full swing.

Danny watched as Jack was embarrassing himself on the dance floor ' _Another day, another chance for my dad to humiliate himself.'_

"Your dad humiliating himself again?" Leo sat down next to him.

"Yeah, where's your brother?"

"With your sister watching that documentary on the Packers."

"Cool." he noticed Jack trying to do the tango "Okay it's official, I'm both mortified and traumatized."

"Took you long enough."

"Well boys you're looking much better." Vlad sat down next to them "I was wondering if the two of you wouldn't mind doing me a huge favor."

"Oh sure thing Mr Masters, helping people is what we do. But please, just call me Leo and him Danny."

"Oh yes yes of course, now could you go to my lab, second door on the right upstairs? There's a present in there for Jack that I was hoping the two of you could bring down."

"Sure, no problem. Come on Danny, let's move." and they left.

Vlad's eyes wandered over to Maddie on the dance floor ' _My dear Maddie… That lab accident cost me my youthful chance at you, but that's all about to change.'_

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"Come on, I think it's in here." Leo led Danny into the lab.

"Well that's weird, I don't see any kind of present- Hey check this out." Danny picked up a picture of Maddie and Vlad "Weird, my dad's been cut out."

"Hold on a second." Leo took out the scrap of Jack and placed it in the frame "Shit, it's a perfect match."

"What is it?"

"Those vulture ghosts from before, they were trying to kill your dad and they had this thing with them-" then his ghost sense went off "Hold on." he transformed.

Danny followed his lead, only for them to be grabbed by ghost octopuses "What the- Get off dammit!" he slammed his to the ground "Wait, these are two of the first ghosts I fought."

"Yeah." Leo blasted his, causing it to disappear "I fought those two literally right before I started at Casper."

"And they're not alone punks!" then a figure from the shadows trapped them both in electrocuting nets as he stepped out, revealing himself.

"Skulker?" Danny freed himself, with Leo soon following, and both used Formation C to slam him into a wall "How did you get back into your ecto skeleton? What are you doing here?"

"And how did you get back to full size?" asked Leo "And more important, how did you get out of digestive tract?"

"All excellent questions." Skulker then passed two cubes out onto the floor in front of both of them, trapping them in strange cubed prisons.

' _What the-? I can't faze out of this!_ Dammit, it's like this thing is disrupting our powers."

"And that's not all it does." Skulker then pressed a button on his arm, electrocuting them and forcing them back into their human forms "Now then…" he grabbed Danny by the hair and held a glowing blade to his throat.

"...The glowing blade is new." Danny noted.

"You like it? I've had some upgrades. Now then…"

"Enough!" this was when Vlad showed up "Honestly Skulker, I didn't free you so you could kill the boys. Your work is done."

"...Yes well I-" then he looked at the PDA on his arm "-have to go to the library to check out a book on the purple back gorilla. AGAIN!" and he flew off against his will, no longer even trying to hide it.

"...Why bother to free him if you didn't get rid of that?" asked Danny "And with him and those ghost octopi, I don't understand any of this."

"Welcome to the club." Leo said dryly.

Vlad let out a scoff "Of course you don't understand, you're both what 14? Not in college yet, too young to drive, in short the age, as you would say, sucks. I sent those ghosts to test the level of skill your father held, imagine my surprise when I find you, the second human ghost hybrid created by his foolishness."

"Second?" then Danny felt it hit him "You don't mean-"

"Indeed I do." Vlad then transformed.

"You! It's phantom time!" Leo tried, but nothing happened.

' _Seriously? A battlecry?'_

"I'm going ghost!" Danny tried, but nothing happened "Why can't I go ghost?"

"And it's not phantom time either." Leo noted "Why isn't it phantom time?"

Vlad smirked "You have battle cries, hilarious. I on the other hand have these, spectral energy neutralizers designed by Skulker and paid for by yours truly, and as long as the two of you are contained within that box you're as human as Daniel's idiot father."

"Let us out of here!" Danny barked.

"Why should I? So the two of you can go back to stumbling through your adolescence desperately trying to get control of your powers? Powers that I myself have had for 20 years by the way. What I want is you, Daniel my body I have experience child, as well as money and power obtained through using those powers for personal gain. I could train you and teach you everything I know, and all you would have to do is renounce your idiot father."

"...Dude, you are one _seriously_ f*cked up fruitloop. _That_ is never going to happen."

"Yes well once your father is out of the way we'll just have to wait and see how you feel about my offer." and he disappeared.

"And here I thought he couldn't sound anymore f*cked up."

"You're telling me." Leo said dryly "And what's worse, I've got a _serious_ nose itch."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Down at the party, Vlad overshadowed Jack and immediately went on a rampage, wreaking havoc.

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"Come on come on!" Danny struggled to get free.

"Don't bother." Leo told him "I've run through every possible strategy in my head, we can't get out of these things without help."

"Well gosh and golly, it looks like you boys could use some help there dontcha know?"

"What the-" Leo looked and saw the ghost of the dairy king appear in front of them "Holy crap, you're the Dairy King. Oh crap, what are you going to do? Suffocate us with limburger? Strangle us with swiss? Actually, those sound like delicious ways to die."

"Nope, this." he used his staff to press the OPEN buttons, freeing them both.

"...Is the limburger still an option?"

"Sure." he summoned some limburger and directed it into Leo's mouth.

"Will you stop that!" Danny whacked him on the back of the head "Well thank you for helping us, but why exactly did you help us?"

"Well not all ghosts are evil right? Some of us just wanna be left alone there dontcha know?"

"Makes sense I guess, hey do you think you could help us fight Plasmius?"

"I'm the Dairy King kiddo. Kings don't fight, they send other people to fight for them. That's royalty 101 there dontcha know." he summoned some gouda "Go ahead and try the gouda, it's dairy fresh!" and he disappeared.

"Weird."

Leo tried the gouda "It is dairy fresh, and awesome as f*ck."

"Will you stop eating ghost cheese so we can go save my dad!" Danny went ghost and phased through the floor.

"Oh fine, just let me finish this last bite."

"DUDE!"

"Hey it's cheese from the Dairy King himself, do you know how rare it is?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Still possessing Jack, Vlad was trashing the party and scaring everyone "If you live to tell the tale then remember that big fat Jack Fenton was the one who did this to you!"

"Guess again you cheese headed fruit loop!" Danny charged through a wall and successfully forced Vlad out of Jack's body, phasing both of them through the wall behind them.

"Shit am I late?" Leo came through the ceiling, still invisibly to hide himself.

Jack landed on the ground and took a moment to regain awareness "Nobody uses Jack Fenton as a human meat puppet!"

"Asked and answered." Leo followed after the others through a wall.

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Vlad stopped himself in the private study and kicked Danny into a wall "Daniel stop this will you? Think about the things I could show you, the doors I could open for you. You Danny Phantom and I Vlad Plasmius, maybe even the Phantom Blade, together we could rule."

Danny scoffed "Sorry buddy, but you can forget it. Your money can't buy my mom, it can't buy the Packers, and it sure as hell can't buy me." he fired an Ecto Cannon.

Vlad stopped it with an Ecto Shield and fired his own Ecto Ray.

Danny protected himself creating an Ecto Dome "I know who you are, I'll tell my father and then I'll tell everyone else."

"And so will I little badger, honestly if you expose me then you'll expose yourself as well."

"EXPOSE THIS GHOST!" that was when Jack burst into the room in the RV.

"Mind if I cut in?" Vlad grabbed Maddie and pulled her through the roof.

"Let go of me!" Maddie barked.

"Never again woman."

"Mom!" Danny prepared to charge in.

"Hold up." Leo appeared and held out an arm in front of him "Don't bother man, I've got this one."

"But-"

"Just let me take care of it, that's what friends are for right?" Leo flew into the now abandoned RV and phased into the driver's seat "Oh that's just perfect, it's a stick." he drove it forward.

"Jack look out, the RV!" Maddie cried out.

"What?" Jack jumped out of the way just in time.

"Sorry Mr Fenton, but I've got one shot at this." Leo aimed at Vlad and fired an Energy Beam.

"Is that all?" Vlad batted it away.

Leo fired a blast of lightning.

Vlad phased through it.

Leo fired a blast of ectoplasmic goo.

"Damn!" Vlad was hit dead on and sent into a wall, dropping Maddie in the process.

' _Dammit!'_ Leo quickly overshadowed Jack and caught Maddie before she hit the ground "I've got you."

Maddie smiled "Jack, you did it!"

"It was nothing Maddie. _Wow saying that is cool as f*ck._ You go make sure Harry is alright while I finish this ghost off."

"Right." she ran off.

Leo picked up Vlad by the collar "So how ya doin V man?"

"Hilarious." Vlad said dryly "You have your father's sense of humor and you've overshadowed Jack, oh I'm quaking in my nonexistent boots. What next, a card trick?"

"...No." he put away the deck of cards he was pulling out "Let me make this clear, old friend of my dad or not I swear I will walk out of this fat moron right now and expose both Danny and you unless you agree to call a truce."

"You're bluffing."

"Am I V Man? I know for a fact that Danny's parents will accept him no matter what but if I expose you then what would Danny's mom think of you?"

"...I see your point."

"You'll be miserable and alone for the rest of your life unless you agree to this truce, so do we have a deal or not?"

"Using your opponent's weaknesses against him, well played young Leonardo very well played. You really are like your father."

"I could only hope to be."

"Very well, I'll agree to this truce at least for now. Eventually Daniel will join him by choice, both him and his mother."

"I wouldn't hold my breath."

"But for now, I suppose I should put those acting lessons to use." he floated into the air and started acting dramatic "Curse you Jack Fenton, your world renowned expertise of all things evil and ghostly has defeated me and brought me unbearable shame! _Until next time that is, little badgers.'_ then he suddenly evaporated.

"You'll be back, and we'll be ready." Leo then left Jack's body.

"Jack." Maddie clasped Jack on the shoulders "I have never seen you like this all the way to Kenosha!"

Jack blinked, then grinned "I did?"

"Yeah, it was awesome." Danny came up to him in his normal form "I don't think I've ever seen you like that before."

"Oh heck it was nothing, I'm just doing my job."

"And mine." Harriet pointed out "Jack for all the years I thought you were a complete and total crackpot, I sort of apologize. Ghosts! This story will make your career, and mine!"

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The next night.

Leo was talking with Danny on the phone as he waited for Raph to pull around the RV "So yeah, they fired Harry."

" _Are you kidding me? I can't believe it."_

"Well of course they fired her, trying to pass off a story about ghosts like that one would make even the most sane people look like total crackpots. It's the Milwaukee Journal, not the National Enquirer."

" _My dad feels bad that Harry blames him, apparently they were all really close when they were in college."_

"Well that's not important anymore, what really matters is the person you turned out to be in the long run and that's what makes you who you are."

" _I tried feeding my dad that line and I still didn't get a later curfew."_

"Ghost hunting parent is still a parent."

" _Unfortunately. Well I'd better go before Jazz finds out I'm using up her minutes, I'll see you when you get back."_

"Alright later." and he hung up.

"So you seem close to Daniel."

Leo looked up to see Vlad standing next to him "Yeah well it's a bond between one half ghost and another, we connect on a deeper level. That and we're the same age."

"That does indeed have a logical sense to it." a brief pause.

"You know you totally underestimated him, he may be Jack's son but don't forget that he's Maddie's son too."

"It seems that I indeed did underestimate him, he has more of his mother in him than I had anticipated. You surprised me though, you say you've only had your powers for a year or so but you handle yourself well."

"My brother trained me."

"Leo, you ready?" Raph called from the parking lot.

"Be there in a sec!"

"...Your father would be proud of the young man you're becoming." and Vlad promptly walked back inside.

"I only hope so."

 **A/N:**

 **Let me explain the main reason why Danny and Leo share such a tight bond despite only knowing each other for a couple of weeks. It's because they're both half ghost, so they can understand each other on a deeper level.**

 **I know Micromanagement was a season 2 episode, but I thought it was the best way to include Kwan and Star. After all, neither one of them got any character development whatsoever.**

 **I was originally only going to have Kwan find out, but after reading a few other fics I decided to add Star in as well.**

 **I know Vlad might seem a little bit OOC at times, but I've got some plans for him in the future.**

 **I cut out the episodes with Desiree, Technus, Ember and Walker because, to be completely honest, I just didn't like those episodes very much.**


	3. Spectra, Jazz, Valerie

Leo stopped Danny in the hall when his ghost sense went off "Danny."

"Yeah, I know." Danny hopped in the closet and phased into the room next to them.

"Relax, I'll cover you- Oh crap. Hurry it up dude, your sister and Mr Lancer are heading this way!"

Sure enough, Jazz was heading their way during a discussion with Mr Lancer "Danny has been acting really strange lately, it's like he's not himself anymore. I'd talk to him myself but I'm his older sister and he's just gonna think I'm being bossy, and if he doesn't get some help and if he doesn't talk to somebody then all of the teenage frustration I think he's suppressing could end up coming out the wrong way."

Danny phased out of the room and transformed back before anyone "Good one Fenton, you let him get away you idiot."

Lancer looked into the room and saw it a smoking wreck, and promptly grabbed both Danny and Leo by their shirts.

"And you let yourself get caught."

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This resulted in them being brought to see Spectra, a woman acting as the pep counselor or something.

"Does it have to be so cold in here?" asked Jazz.

"Of course." Spectra turned it even colder to the point where they could see her breath "I find that low temperatures keep the mind icy sharp. And don't you worry about this mess of an office either, stuff like this happens so no biggy right Jasmine?"

"It's Jazz, my friends call me Jazz."

Danny snorted "Yeah well your brother calls you Fink!"

"Danny I'm just trying to help, we used to talk all the time."

"Yeah, when I was 8 and you weren't such a fink!"

"That's more than enough out of you Fenton." Lancer cut him off sharply "You and Hunter get to class while Ms Spectra and I decide what your punishment will be."

Danny shot Jazz one last scowled and stomped off, with Leo following.

"Unlike her brother Jasmine is one of Casper's best and brightest, she'll be giving the keynote pep speech at our centennial spirit-a-thon on Wednesday."

"Right on!" Spectra pumped a peppy fist "That's why I'm here, to pump up the pep one student at a time."

"You see Jazz, Dr Spectra is a highly respected motivational speaker and teen therapist. She's agreed to help pump up the volume on that old Casper High spirit this week."

Spectra motioned to a short guy in a suit "And this is my assistant Bertrand. Jazz this is going to be such a super week, wait until you see what we have planned for the spirit a thon. Right after your speech- Show her Bertrand-" she got him to hold up a picture of a domino chain "-we'll set off this domino chain that says _Casper spirit._ The dominoes represent how each person's spirit effects the next person they touch, slamming isn't it?"

"...If by slamming you mean weird then yes." Jazz said dryly.

' _Well duh.'_

"And the spirit sparklers go off afterwards right?" Lancer sounded hopeful.

"Oh you bet they will, after all what's spirit week without spirit sparklers?"

"You know you're a little bit over peppy." Jazz noted "But still, I think my brother might benefit from talking to you. He's so mad right now he'd never listen to me."

"Yes well he'll listen to me." Lancer promised, though it sounded somewhat menacing.

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Danny was later sitting outside Spectra's office "This whole thing sucks."

"It's high school, you get used to it." Leo said dryly.

"Can you tell what they're saying in there?"

"Well right now she's telling Paulina that her popularity is completely dependent on her looks and money, which it is. Now she's basically telling her to drown herself in makeup to make herself feel better."

"Pep councilor my ass."

Then Spectra poked her head out "Danny, come on in."

"Wish me luck." and he went into the lion's den.

Leo sighed ' _I can't believe Jazz actually convinced Lancer to make this Danny's punishment, but then again I guess the smartasses always have more influence. God it's so cold in there I can actually see my breath out here- wait…'_ he looked at his own breath in a nearby mirror ' _That's not my breath, that's my Ghost Sense!'_

"Unbelievable!" a pissed off Danny stormed out of the office "You're not gonna believe this!"

"I bet I will."

"My own big sister said I was a baby and a loser!"

"...You're right, I don't."

"And apparently she's got this stupid idea in her head that you of all people are a bad influence on me!" they started walking.

"Okay that's crossing the line. Still though, calling you a loser doesn't really sound like Jazz to me."

"Maybe but-"

"Hey guys." then Jazz came up in front of them "What doesn't sound like Jazz to you?"

Danny's scowl deepened.

"You're still mad."

"Oh wow, you really are the smart one." note the venom and sarcasm in his tone.

"Look Danny I know you're angry but I'm worried about you, every since the accident-"

"Look Jazz I know that you _think_ you're helping and I'm sure that when I'm older I'll appreciate it at some point but right now I don't. At all."

"You have to talk to somebody Danny, you barely have any friends-" she received a middle finger from Leo "-and one of them is that guy, and you have no extracurricular activities."

Leo snorted ' _Yeah, unless you count that we beat the ectoplasmic shit out of ghosts wevery single day.'_

"Danny, I'm worried about you."

"Well maybe this is me now!" Danny snapped "Not everyone is pumped up and full of spirit all the time you know." then his Ghost Sense went off and he began shivering "Ghost Sense? I don't see anything."

"Danny you're shivering."

"Leave me alone! Come on Leo!" and he ran off.

"It's worse than I thought."

"...Might have something to do with the giant green hornet over there that's scaring nerds into their lockers." Leo noted dryly "Look I'll talk to Danny about whatever is troubling him, unless you think I'm too bad of an influence on him." and he ran off.

Jazz looked and saw a gigantic ghost hornet round the corner in the hall and lock eyes with her, to which she let out a blood curdling scream as it grabbed her and prepared to devour her, when…

"Formation C! Back off ghost bug!" Leo and Danny charged in and kicked the ghost bug on each side of its face, leaving them to phase through the wall.

"Ghost bug? Wait a minute, that was a ghost? That was three ghosts?"

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Leo fired an Ecto Cannon at the bug "Alright insect, get ready to meet your exterminators."

"My you are clever aren't you?" the hornet mocked "Well swat this one big boys!" and he charged forward, stinger pointed at them.

"Move!" Leo pulled Danny out of the way "Come on man you know you're supposed to go intangible with stuff like this, what the hell happened?" he rose an Ecto Dome to deflect the bug's next charge "Alright big guy, time for you to-" he aimed the thermos, only to see that the ghost was gone "-and he's gone."

"Perfect, another guy gets away." Danny grumbled "Maybe Jazz was right, maybe I am a loser."

"Hey come on don't think like that, you're just in a slump." he looked up and noticed Jazz staring at them through a window "And chances are she's gonna try and grill us for how we saw three ghosts at school."

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Jazz gawked at both of them "What the hell do you guys mean you didn't see any ghosts?"

"I just don't think it looked like a ghost to me, it just looked like a big bug." Danny lied "So we ran, like a bunch of losers."

"I was right, you're not going to listen to me are you?"

"Nope."

"Well then you leave me no choice. Mom, dad, can I talk to you guys about Danny?"

"What? Jazz, no!"

"Yes."

"...I feel like I played my hand horribly."

Then Jack and Maddie bolted in "Is something wrong with Danny? Is there a ghost involved? Is there something you wanna talk about? Does it involve ghosts?"

"I've got this." Leo stepped up with a smug grin "As a matter of fact there is, Jazz thinks she saw a ghost today. Go ahead Jazz, tell them."

"WHAT?!" they rounded on her "Why didn't you tell us? It would've been a good chance to try out the portable Fenton Ghost Peeler."

"The what now?"

"It peels ghosts apart atom by atom." Jack pressed a button and was encased in a high tech combat suit, but then promptly fell forward and crushed the table.

"...Well have fun with your little chat, Danny and I will be in his room studying." they then walked out with a triumphant fist bump.

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Jazz proceeded to try and interrogate Leo at school the next morning "I'm serious, Danny's been acting really weird. Haven't you noticed how gloomy and negative he's been lately?"

"Jazz, I'm Danny's friend." Leo pointed out "That means that it's basically my job to keep his secrets from you."

Jazz held out a 20.

"Nice try, I'm not Tucker. We've all got problems we don't want to talk to other people about Jazz, I understand that you're worried but I can assure you that Danny's doing just fine. Sure he might want to keep some things to himself, but it's not like he's becoming a criminal or anything like that."

"Yeah I guess but-"

"See, does that sound like something a bad influence would say?" note the venom in his voice that time.

"What? I never said you were a bad influence."

"Not according to Danny and that perk sap guidance counselor. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to class." and he walked off.

' _Leo thinks I said he's a bad influence? That's not true, honestly Danny's been a lot happier since Leo showed up. Where would he get an idea like that?'_

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Leo later brought Danny to get a milkshake after a brutal day of him being laughed at "Do I even wanna know what she did to you?"

"No you don't." Danny let out a growl.

' _But he's gonna tell me anyway.'_

"Apparently Spectra tried to help me get over my supposed fear of being called a baby, she says I care too much what other people think."

"Well that is true in some cases."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Paulina." Leo promptly slurped down a milkshake.

"You know Danny, you're not the only one getting screwed over by her." Kwan sat down next to them "She says Valerie worries way too much about material possessions and that Dash is gonna grow old, broke and alone."

"Well to be fair both of those things are true."

"Yeah but pep counselors aren't supposed to say stuff like that!"

"But the A Listers need to be taken down a peg or two." he looked on his phone and saw that he had been sent several pics of Danny in the baby suit ' _Dammit Tucker.'_

Danny buried his head in the table "I don't get it, why am I so depressed and angry all the time now? That shrink was supposed to be helping me, ever since I started talking to her I've been feeling worse."

' _Ghost Sense, getting moody and depressed ever since a mysterious shrink showed up?'_

Then Jazz showed up "Hey Danny, how's it going?"

"Like you care." Danny shot her a scowl "Just piss off and leave me alone Jazz-" then he felt his Ghost Sense go off "Leo."

"Yeah." Leo looked behind Jazz and saw a ghost appear behind Paulina, his voice low "Go ahead and take this one, I'll keep her busy."

"Thanks." then he rounded on Jazz again "Alright fine Leo, if you're gonna take her side then you can just hang with her too!" he sat Jazz down "Here go ahead and take my seat, you've already taken two of the few friends I have!" and with fake anguish on his face, he ran out the employee only exit.

"Danny wait!" Jazz ran after him.

"Kwan, let's go!" Leo went after them, with Kwan following.

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"He went this way, I'm sure I can head him off." Jazz poked her head out the exit, only to catch a surprise.

"I'm going ghost!" Danny promptly transformed, with her as a main witness, and then flew off.

' _What?!'_

"Back here!" Leo led Kwan to the alley.

"Danny?"

' _Dammit, did she see?'_

"Leo, Kwan, did you guys just see that? Tell me I didn't see what I just saw."

"That depends, what do you think you saw?"

"Danny transforming into a ghost."

"...Well now that that cat's out of the bag, I might as well go back him up." Leo promptly got into a stance "It's phantom time!" he transformed and flew off after Danny.

"Him too?!"

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Danny, currently invisible, floated around the ice cream parlor looking for the ghost, only to kick him into a sunglasses display "I know you need your makeup big guy but you're just gonna have to wait your turn, not that it's gonna do you any good unless you get some sun. You're pale as a ghost- oh wait."

The ghost promptly bitch slapped him into a book stand, then fired an Ecto Fireball at him.

Danny dodged it, as well as the next two blasts, while everyone else was running away in a mass panic.

The ghost then threw him into a wall of backpacks "Wow, you're not very good at this whole ghost fighting thing are you?"

"Yeah well maybe I don't need to be in order to take you down."

The ghost then morphed into a wolf and pounced at him.

Danny dodged the attack, though a small bite was taken out of his ghost tail "Then again, getting a little bit better at this."

"Hey, get away from him!" Kwan threw a soda can at the ghost, only to find it rounding on him instead "Or don't, seriously dude it's an open discussion."

"No, you get the hell away from him!" Danny slammed the ghost to the ground.

The ghost overpowered him and slammed him to the ground "Well will you look at that, the little loser ghost has a few baby helpers!"

Triggered, all that needs to be said "Do not… call me… or my friends… LOSERS!" he suddenly unleashed a green blast of fire from both hands, slamming the ghost into a wall.

"Well I think that's enough damage for one afternoon. Bye for now." and he fled.

"Dammit, the stupid thing got away again. Just perfect, another ringing endorsement for the town screwup."

"I don't think Lance Thunder has anything to do with this." Leo dropped in from the room ' _But I think we've got other problems to deal with.'_

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Morning came.

Danny let out a sigh as he put stuff in his locker "It was weird, she kept talking like she was all sentimental and not the pushy know it all she usually is."

Leo shrugged "Maybe it's that time of the month for her."

"Dude that's gross! But then again, that actually might be it."

"It only makes sense. Still though, look around. This just might be the worst spirit week in the history of Casper High spirit weeks. Dash thinks he's gonna turn into a hobo."

"I didn't even know they had hobos anymore."

"Neither did he."

"And if that's not bad enough, we're all gonna have to listen to Jazz's idiotic speech when she tries to put the I back in spirit or some other crap along those lines. What the hell is she so perky about?"

"How should I know? I'm usually the guy that's more real than people tolerate, and I'm probably the only guy in this school who hasn't had a session with Spectra."

"Well aside from Sam, Tucker, Star and Kwan- Wait, that's it."

"You figure it has something to do with seeing your breath but now you think it has something to do with your Ghost Sense?"

"Yeah, what if Spectra is somehow making people more miserable? What if she's connected to that ghost from before?"

"Makes sense I guess, but we're gonna have to find a way to prove it."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"I already did." Kwan came up to them "I forced myself to sit through a session with Dr Spectra so I could listen in from outside her office and I figured out her plan, and I discovered that she feeds off of misery and it makes her younger. She and that ghost from before are planning to use spirit sparklers to take Jazz out, leaving enough misery to keep her looking young for god knows how long."

"What?!" then he heard the bell ring "I guess it's time. Come on guys, we've gotta move before it's too late. And Leo?"

"You wanna take this one yourself?" Leo guessed.

"Yeah, she's my sister and I haven't been a very good brother to her lately so it's only right that I make it up to her."

"Go ahead man."

"Thanks."

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The spirit pep rally was about to begin.

Jazz quickly found that all of the students present were far less than enthusiastic, but she decided to begin her speech regardless.

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Spectra was walking towards the gym with Bertrand "It's almost time."

Bertrand grinned "After we've destroyed everything, what do you say to getting a cappuccino?"

"Oh that sounds like a marvellous idea."

"Change of plans!" Danny suddenly appeared and blasted Bertrand away "Leo and I finally figured it out, you feed on the misery of others don't you?"

"I'm sorry, can I help you?"

"No I have no doubt that you can't, you can't help anyone but yourself. You find that one thing that a kid fears more than anything in the world, whether it be their future or their looks or their confidence, and you keep picking at it and picking at it while your snippy little ghost foot stool back there feeds on it."

"Hey!" Bertrand was offended.

"Well am I wrong?"

Spectra gave him a fake applause, her eyes glowing red "Very good, but I'm afraid you missed a few details." she then took on her true form and charged, with Bertrand helping her to push him outside.

' _Great, now I've gotta fight off both of them at once.'_

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Jazz finally finished her speech to the students in the gym, and Lancer started the ceremonial dominoes.

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Bertrand, in his wolf form, slammed Danny against a tree "Did you really think you were going to stop us? You of all people? You're nothing but a frightened little kid!" he brought down his claw.

Danny phased through it, as well as the tree, then landed an uppercut from underground "Oh good, I wasn't sure that was gonna work."

"Gotcha!" Spectra caught him from behind.

"Let go of me!"

"Now why would I do that? Your doubt, your misery, it's all delicious! The best part of it has yet to come, as soon as that ridiculous is over and the last domino falls and the spirit sparklers vaporize the speaker we're gonna leave you here to take the blame and by the time I'm done with you you'll be sure it was all your fault!"

"I am so tired of you dumping on me, and I am so tired of dumping on myself. Jazz never did that, she was always there for me even when I didn't want her to be and I absolutely refuse to let her down!" he suddenly broke free of her hold.

"Oh Bertrand, sic him!"

"Gladly!" Bertrand pounced at Danny, transforming into a ninja in the process.

"F*ck this!" Leo suddenly appeared and sucked Bertrand into a thermor "2 on 2, it was only fair. Now it's back to 1 on 1, I'm out peoples." and he left.

"Thanks man!" Danny called.

"You're through!" Spectra charged at him in a rage.

"And you're done telling me or anyone else what to do!" Danny caught her by the tail and threw her into a dumpster "Wait, Jazz!" he quickly phased inside.

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Jazz looked around and saw the final domino fall ' _It's time.'_

"NO!" Danny suddenly phased in and pushed her out of the way just in time, right before the podium was blasted, leaving a shocked audience behind.

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Danny quickly brought Jazz into an empty room ' _That was close, I don't know what I would've done if I had lost her.'_

Then Spectra suddenly appeared and slammed Danny against a wall "Look at you, what are you, a ghost trying to fit in with humans or some creep little boy with creepy little powers? You're a freak, not a ghost or a boy. Who cares for a thing like you?"

"You're wrong!" Danny suddenly unleashed another blast of fire from his hands, allowing him to break free "I'm neither a human or a ghost, what I am is Danny Phantom!"

"It doesn't matter what you're called, you're still a freak!"

"Excuse me." this was when Jazz cut into the conversation "I don't really know this kid or anything, but I hope it's okay if he gets a second opinion." she then activated the Peeler Suit, encasing herself in a suit of armor "This is weird, but it's also awesome." she fired a blast from her wrist, removing every layer of skin Spectra had, leaving her in the form of a shriveled old lady.

"No!"

"Talk about having nothing within." Danny muttered.

"No, I'm nothing without my youth!"

"You're nothing with it either!" Danny then proceeded to suck Spectra into the Fenton Thermos, then turned to Jazz "So… thanks for your help. I guess there are some who get it. Not all ghosts are evil, some just wanna be left alone, but others want to use their powers to help people like me and my partner."

Jazz smiled "Sure, no problem. You'd better hurry though, before anyone comes here and sees you." and she ran off.

"Yeah…" Danny promptly phased through the wall and flew off.

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Jazz made her way to the outside of the gym, having reached a decision ' _Danny can tell me when he's ready, if he wants to tell me then he will.'_

"Ms Fenton." this was when Lancer showed up "You're needed."

Jazz made her way into the gym and found everyone cheering for her ' _Everyone…'_

"Everybody's mood has lifted, it's as though some sort of gloomy malevolence has been shooed away. Your disappearing act worked marvellously, they got their spirit back."

"They're not the only ones Mr Lancer, they're not the only ones."

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Nightfall came.

"I've got it!" Jazz heard a knock on the door and answered it.

Leo stood outside "Hey."

"Hey, Danny's actually in the shower right now."

"Yeah I know, I checked in on him a few minutes ago. I'm actually here to talk to you about something."

"Oh sure, come on in." Jazz led him into the living room.

"I'm gonna get right down to business here Jazz, does Danny know that you saw?"

"No, and he hasn't mentioned his secret to me either. I'm not gonna rush this thing, if he wants to wait until he's ready to tell me then he will."

"I see, well then I'll respect that choice and let you work this out for yourself."

"Thanks." then she changed the subject "I talked with your brother earlier, he told me how you got your ghost powers."

"...I'm trying to do my parents proud by using my powers to help people, Danny asked me to teach him what I know and I agreed. He also told me that he can shoot green fireballs now, so that means that he's got some pyrokinesis based abilities. He's developing even faster than I had been."

"Well whatever Spectra told you about me thinking that you're a bad influence on Danny, that's not true in the slightest. It's totally the opposite in fact, right now I think you're probably the best influence Danny could have."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." then he transformed "Well I said my piece, later." and he took off, phasing through the roof.

' _Danny, I think you might have found the perfect friend to help you with this. Be sure you don't take him for granted.'_

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 **(Shades of Gray)**

A typical day at Casper High.

Paulina was with Dash, Kwan and Valerie in the hallways "Hey Valerie, like I so much love that top."

Valerie smirked "Isn't it sweet? $579 and worth every one of my dad's pennies."

Leo rolled his eyes as he put his stuff back in his locker ' _Selfish A List assholes.'_ so he fired a mini Ecto Ray from his fingertip at Paulina, causing her to spill her coffee all over Valerie.

"...Dash, please hurt the unpopular boy for me." no she didn't see Leo fire it, she just wanted to take her anger out in seeing one of the unpopular boys getting beaten up.

' _And there it is.'_

"Fine by me, I've been wanting to knock this prick down a peg or two." Dash then proceeded to stomp up to Leo "You know, I was hoping to take this D that I got on my spelling test out of Fenton's hide but I guess you'll do."

"Go ahead and try it jackass."

"Fine!" Dash threw a punch.

Leo caught the punch, then caught him in an arm lock and threw him to the ground "Let this be a lesson to you Dash. I'm not like Danny, I'm a hell of a lot more pragmatic and I don't take crap from anyone. Not from my brother, not from you, and god knows not any of the other A Lister scum. That's right, Kwan and Star aside you A Listers are nothing but the selfish and spoiled scum of this school who think they're on top because they can throw a football or raise some goddamn pompoms. Get with reality, you're nothing and you never will be."

"What gives you the right to talk to us like that?" Paulina growled "Kwan, you know what to do."

"Yeah I do." Kwan walked over to Leo, then grinned and held out a fist "That was a good one man."

"Years of practice." he returned the fist "Danny and I are meeting up with Tucker and Sam down at Nasty Burger, you and Star wanna come?"

"Sure." and they walked off.

Paulina could only utter one word "...WHAT?!"

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Leo led Kwan out into the parking lot "So what made you suddenly decide to turn on the A Listers like that?"

Kwan shrugged "Well you and the others showed us what real friends are supposed to be like, so we decided to get some real friends." he noticed Danny being pulled around and away from the school by a gigantic ghost dog "What's up with Fenton?"

"Oh cool, he found Cujo. See I always assumed that he was the ghost of a guard dog for Axion Labs, mainly because of the collar. I haven't seen him since before I came here though, I wonder what he's doing out of the Ghost Zone."

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2 days passed.

Danny led Kwan and Leo down the street "Valerie has basically hit rock bottom now."

"How so?" asked Kwan.

"Well Cujo wrecked Axion Labs while I was trying to stop him, now Valerie's dad ended up getting fired and now they have to sell everything that they own in a yard sale."

"I feel terrible, if I could've stopped that ghost dog then none of this would be happening right now."

"Don't take it so hard, even I have a hard time taming Cujo. You know what, I can't sit by and watch this." so he went up to her "Hey."

Valerie scowled "What do you want?"

"I heard what happened?"

"Just perfect, word has already gone all the way down to the bottom of the social grapevine."

"Look I get that you're upset but I just wanna help, all of us do." he motioned over to Danny and Kwan.

"Thanks but I think I'll pass."

Danny felt his Ghost Sense go off "I think I'll have to pass too." and he quickly ran off, which was followed by Cujo suddenly bursting out of the ground, destroying a dresser full of old clothes in the process, essentially ruining their value.

"Son of a-"

Then Danny showed up, now in his ghost form "How the hell did you get out of the Ghost Zone?"

Cujo growled at him.

Danny tickled his chin, causing him to revert back to his ghost puppy form "Well ghost dogs are a lot more entertaining than regular dogs."

"Yeah, you've just gotta remember to avoid the invisible dog crap." Leo warned, follow by a squishing noise "Too late."

"Crap. Literally."

"Hey!" Valerie stomped up to Danny "Whoever or whatever you are just get the hell out of here, you and your stupid dog have done enough!"

"Look you've the wrong idea, he's not my-"

That was when Cujo grabbed Danny by the leg with his mouth and started dragging him around against his will.

"Oh come on, not again!"

Then Cujo dragged him into the moving truck, resulting in lots of crashing.

"Nice boy, nice boy! Down boy, down boy, down boy, down boy!" Danny finally grabbed Cujo and phased them both out of the truck, then took off.

"What's going on here?" Damon opened the truck and found everything inside completely ruined.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out." Valerie growled.

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"Alright Cujo, in you go." Danny promptly threw Cujo into the Ghost Zone, only to find his hands covered in good "Note to self, avoid dogs and get a hamster." and he flew out of his parents' lab.

Once he was gone, Cujo phased back out of the portal.

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The next day came.

Leo met up with Danny and the others during lunch "So how are things going with Ms Former Popularity?"

Danny pointed to where Valerie was sitting by herself, then to where Dash and Paulina were laughing at her expense and talking about the Dumpty Humpty concert "She had to sell her concert tickets to pay for the moving truck, and now she just got scorched by her friends."

"Yet another reason why I despise the A Listers, if you ask me then she needs better friends." he grabbed Tucker by the collar and stopped him from going over to her, then sat down in front of her and began reading without paying her any sort of mind.

Valerie scowled at him despite this "What the hell do you want?"

"I should be asking you that. You're the one who's trying to start a conversation, I'm just trying to read in peace."

"Look I'm already aware of my sudden status as a social outcast, but thanks for reminding me without blurting it out to my face."

Leo looked to his side ' _Cujo is gonna come barging in here in 3… 2…'_

"Can you please just leave me alone? I wanna enjoy my bag lunch in peace."

' _1.'_

Then Cujo phased in and grabbed the bag, ripping it to shreds, drawing a scream of terror from Valerie and the others students as they ran out in terror, though Valerie didn't.

Leo went over to Danny "You know you're not really much of a dog catcher are you?"

Danny grinned "Tell me about it, who let the dogs in?"

"...Really?"

"Yeah see the song is Who Let the Dogs Out, but I said Who Let the Dogs In-"

"Dude, please just shut up."

"Okay." he ducked under the table and transformed, then flew over to Cujo and stopped him from eating the lunch lady "Alright boy take it easy, that lady isn't edible and neither is any of the stuff she cooks."

Cujo dropped her.

"Neither am I for that matter."

Cujo pounced at him and phased both of them through the wall.

Leo noticed Valerie still standing there "So… ghosts, am I right? What are you gonna do?"

"Ghosts?" then Valerie felt the realization hit her "Oh my god, ghosts!"

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After she got home, Valerie learned that Damon was getting one last chance by acting as a lone security guard, as well as learning that a package arrived for her from Wisconsin.

Once he was out of the room, Valerie opened the package to find that it contained ghost hunting weapons from Vlad, unaware that he was watching from the window.

Not knowing who he was and not caring, she could only feel joy about the potential possibilities of testing out her new _toys_.

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Danny was later with Sam in the park "I'm telling you that this is one bad dog, no matter how many times I toss him into the Ghost Zone he digs his way out through the Fenton Portal and he keeps coming back to me."

"Well aside from Leo you're the only other ghost in the area, so train him." Sam handed him a book "Ghost dog or not he's still a dog, I think. Good luck."

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think? I can't be seen hanging around with a ghost kid. But that book oughta help." and she left.

"Alright, let's get to it." he started reading out of the book "A dog's hearing is much more acute than that of a human, which means…" he whistled.

Cujo came running.

"Hand signals along with vocal commands can be a powerful combination. Stop!"

Cujo stopped.

"That's weird, it's like this dog is already trained."

Cujo pounced.

"Sort of. A boy and his dog, somehow this is both cute and freaky at the same time." then he noticed a rocket flying towards him and quickly pulled Cujo out of the way, then sat him on the ground "Stay. The question is, what the f*ck was that?"

That was when _she_ showed up, for now being referred to as Red "I've got you in my sights, ghost scum." she fired another rocket from her hoverboard.

Danny dodged and began flying away to retreat.

Red fired several Ecto Blasts from her hoverboard.

Danny dodged them and turned intangible to pass through a tree.

Red fell off her board, but the homing feature caught her before she hit the ground "Oh yeah, now that's what I'm talking about." she fired off several ecto razor blades, with almost all of them missing. Almost.

"Wow, nice aim. First day with the new weapons?" then Danny got cut on the arm "Ow, that hurt! Wait a minute. That hurt?"

"Oh don't worry ghost kid, it won't hurt long because you are going down!" Red fired an Ecto Gun at him.

Danny was promptly pulled out of the way by Cujo.

"Get back here!" she kept firing, only to hit a tree.

Danny stopped when he and Cujo met Sam behind a bush "Hey."

"Who the hell is that?" asked Sam "That is an awesome outfit."

"Don't know, don't care. See the ball boy? Fetch!" he fired an Ecto Ball, sending Cujo running away "Dammit she's coming, Sam hide!"

"No time!" she pushed him into the bushes.

"No escaping me now ghost boy." then Red showed up, only to discover something very very different.

Sam was making out with Danny, then looked up at Red "Do you mind? We're kind of in the middle of something here."

"Oh gross, loser love. I always knew you two geeks would end up together." and she flew off.

"That sounded like Valerie."

"Yeah…" Danny was left rather dazed.

"Danny, dude you didn't that was a real kiss did you?"

"No. Why, did you?"

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"Wait, you guys kissed?" was what Tucker, Kwan, Star and Leo got from that.

Danny groaned "For the love of- No, it was a fake out make out!"

"Still has make out in it." Leo pointed out "Still though, it's kind of disappointing that the one who saw was-" guess who he accidentally ran into "-Valerie. Hey, how's it going?"

"Bye." Danny promptly left with Sam, Kwan and Star, while he was dragging Tucker with him against his will.

Leo checked out the books Valerie was carrying " _Ghost Hunter's Almanac_? _Ghost Hunting for Dimwits_? Since when did you get so interested in ghosts?"

"When they ruined my life." Valerie ground out "This guy Benjamin Hunter, the kind of stuff he has on ghosts is just what I need to take them out."

' _...Curse my good heart and morals._ You know I happen to know a lot more about ghosts than you might think."

"Oh please, I'm broke I'm not stupid."

"Which is why you should've pieced together the connection. Me, Benjamin Hunter?"

"...Huh?"

"Did you know that he was my father?"

"No I didn't know that."

"Or that my brother is a professional ghost hunter, or Danny's parents?"

"I didn't know any of that either. Hey Leo, do you wanna carry my books for me?" she gave him the puppy dog eyes.

"You're not stupid, but you'd have to be if you thought that was gonna work on me."

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Later, the group was at the school's basketball game.

"Danny, you've gotta relax." Leo told him.

Danny groaned "How can I relax? That stupid ghost dog could be anywhere, not to mention that I have no idea how Valerie became a ghost hunter and now you're trying to get all buddy buddy with her."

"It's all part of the plan."

"Hey guys." Valerie came up to them "Mind if I join you?"

"...Go ahead." Leo was crying inside.

"So Danny, Leo tells me that your parents hunt ghosts."

Danny's scowl deepened "Did he now? What else did he tell you?"

"How about that there's a ghost dog on the court." he pointed to where Cujo was scaring everyone away.

"Right." Danny dove underneath the bleachers and transformed, then found Cujo digging around behind them in his tiny form "You're looking for something? What are you looking for? Sam was right, ghost dog or not you're still a dog and you're looking for something."

That was when Valerie showed up and blasted Cujo "Time to say goodbye ghost boy." she tried to open up her thermos, the key word being _tried_.

' _What the f*ck?'_

"Oh for- Will you come on already you stupid thermos?"

' _And time for senpai to make the save._ Oops." Leo pretended to fall off of the back of the bleachers, purposefully landing on top of Valerie "Sorry, but I've gotta say that I love the threads on that thing.

"Son of a-"'

"And that's my cue." Danny grabbed Valerie and stuck her in a basketball hoop so she couldn't move "There, you should be safe here until help comes."

"Get me down from here, get me down from here so I can destroy you!"

"Nope." then he disappeared.

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Danny confronted Leo during biology the next day "Come on Leo, please don't tell me that you like her."

Leo snorted "Do I look like an idiot? Of course not, I'm just trying to get her out of the shallow end of the gene pool."

"So you get that she's shallow?"

"If you mean that I think I can stand in a puddle full of her and not get my feet wet then yes, though she's nowhere near as bad as Paulina."

"Yeah but Paulina is hot-" then Danny felt his Ghost Sense go off "May I be excused?"

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3 ½ minutes later…

Danny was avoiding blasts from Valerie while chasing after Cujo ' _This is my life now, 279 girls at our school and he has to try and turn the one with the weapons and the grudge.'_ he fired an Ecto Ray from his fingertip, knocking her away ' _Well to be fair this is kind of my own fault for what happened before, I suppose I should at least try to do something to help her but only after I figure out what I can do with him.'_ he looked over at Cujo "Go on boy, go get it."

Cujo blinked.

"Oh right, I mean fetch."

Cujo bolted.

' _Now then, I may be trying to help Valerie but that doesn't mean I can't get a little bit of payback. But first I'd better follow him.'_ he chased after Cujo.

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Nightfall came.

Danny ended up chasing Cujo to Axion Labs "Wait a minute, Axion Labs? Whatever you're looking for is in there? Wait hold on, somebody's coming." he quickly covered Cujo's mouth and turned invisible.

Damon walked past with his boss "I appreciate the second chance sir."

The boss let out a droning sigh "Well as long as nothing else happens we'll see about reinstating your contract, I knew we should never have gotten rid of those guard dogs." and they walked past unsuspectingly.

"Valerie's dad? Oh that's just great." Danny grumbled ' _Now I'm gonna need Leo's help for this, but then again payback is a bitch.'_

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Leo laid down on the grass and peered through a set of binoculars, with Danny and Star right beside him "Alright we're here, so where did the ghost's best friend run off to?"

"Hold that thought." Danny let out a whistle, causing Cujo to come running.

"Chill out Cujo, I'm on your side."

"So you say."

"Hey who knocked out the security cameras, don't forget that. So what's the situation in there right now?"

"Well the good news is that there's only one guard, the bad news is that it's Valerie's dad."

"Ouch."

"At this point it's probably best if I go down there myself, the Fenton Fisher oughta make a good leash for a little while." he promptly tied up Cujo "I'm gonna leave you guys to watch the dog while I do this." and he left.

"I'm gonna go do a late night snack run, Star you mind watching Cujo? Thanks." and he promptly flew off to the burger joint next to Axion Labs.

"Sure." Star now sat high in the tree "I'll be sure to do that from way up here."

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By this point, Damon decided to go on a late night food run, leaving Valerie to on the offensive should any ghosts show up.

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Danny phased into the lab "Now then, the only question is what exactly I'm looking for."

Then Valerie showed up and blasted him while his guard was down "Coming back to the scene of the crime?"

"As much as I hate to do this…" he shot an Ecto Ray, knocking the Ecto Gun out of her hand.

"Oh yeah? Well I don't." she summoned another one from her shoulder and fired at him.

He phased through the roof but still got blown away by the ensuing blast, unaware that this had caused Cujo to break free, and went back down into the lab.

She fired several slow motion blasts at him.

He narrowly avoided all of them, damaging the lab even further, and fired a blast through the wall above her.

"You're a pretty lousy shot."

"That's because I'm not trying to hit you, can't we talk about this?"

"I'm done talking!" she activated a pair of rocket skates, only to phased through him and quickly stopped when she saw Cujo.

Danny quickly grabbed her and flew her away.

"Let me go!"

"Yeah that's a great way to say thanks."

She pulled out another Ecto Gun, accidentally hitting the alarm.

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Damon heard it from the burger place "Valerie!"

' _Dammit!'_ Leo quickly grabbed his food and rushed out.

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Valerie locked onto Danny "You and your stupid dog ruined everything and now you're going to pay, you and every ghost like you." she fired a blast.

' _Dammit!'_ Danny turned intangible, but the blast still sent him through the wall behind him.

"That oughta do it." then she noticed Cujo behind her.

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An old kennel.

That was where Danny stopped himself and realized what room he was in "An old kennel? This must be where they kept all of the guard dogs, maybe what he's looking for is in there." he put his hand against a wall and heard a squeak "What the-?" he reached into the wall and gained a trolling look on his face "Oh this is gonna be awesome."

Indeed it would be.

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Valerie found herself about to be devoured by Cujo ' _Eaten alive by a ghost dog, I never thought this was how it was gonna end!'_

"Here boy." Danny suddenly showed up with a chew toy.

Cujo started wagging his tail, then growled at Valerie.

"No no, it's okay. Do you want your squeaky, oh do you? Here you go, now please just go home and stay there!" he threw it.

Cujo ran and caught it, then disappeared.

"Finally." then Danny went over to Valerie "Look I know that you're angry, but that's not my dog and I'm sorry about whatever happened to you." he held out his hand "Not all ghosts are evil."

"Yeah?" Valerie took his hand, then flipped him to the ground "And not all humans are saps are they? Goodbye ghost boy."

"Valerie?" a voice called.

"Oh crap, it's my dad! I can't let him see me like this!"

"Sorry, but I can't help you there." Danny smugly phased through the floor.

"Great now what am I gonna do?"

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Leo stepped out and let himself get caught in a net "Hey, how's it going?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Following something my dad said once, he said that a simple act of kindness can go a really long way."

"Ahem."

Leo looked back and saw Damon and his boss "Oh hi, you must be her dad. Wow you are a lot bigger then I thought you were gonna be."

The boss on the other hand was hard to read "Well at least we know that we're secure against the likes of teenagers, but you're still on thin ice."

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Leo met with Danny during lunch "Hey."

"Hey." Danny didn't bother looking at him.

"Cujo go back to the Ghost Zone?"

"Yep."

"Gonna play it a lot safer now that you've got a rival in ghost hunting that's out for your head and possibly your balls?"

"Oh yeah. I just wish that I knew where she got those weapons from."

Leo looked and saw Vlad leaving a box of ghost hunting gear in the hallway "I can't think of anything, but what I do know is where she may have gotten a little bit of extra cash. You remember those Dumpty Humpty concert tickets that she sold on the internet?"

"You bought her tickets?"

"There were only 2."

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The A Listers were miserable at the concert.

Danny was rocking out and enjoying himself with Leo "What's better is that you got us seats next to those losers so we can rub it in their faces!"

 **A/N:**

 **So in case you didn't notice, I'm having Leo act as a sort of mentor role for Danny in some aspects.**

 **I know I cut out Tucker and Sam in a lot of parts, but I promise that it's going to work out later on.**


	4. Wulf, Walker, Training, Freakshow

Bullet, Walker's second in command, was busy catching escaped prisoners throughout the Ghost Zone on Walker's orders, leaving only one left: Leo.

About 6 months earlier, Leo had been arrested by Walker and caused a jailbreak, allowing him to escape along with every other prisoner, so Walker vowed to get revenge on him.

In order to achieve this revenge, Walker summoned a wolf like ghost by the name of Wulf with the ability to claw his way through to Earth to track down Leo in exchange for freedom and for his shock collar to be removed.

That would lead us to this.

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"Ghosts!" random civilians were running in terror from Walker's crew as they were causing havoc throughout the city.

Danny looked around "Damn, I don't think I've ever seen this many ghosts attacking at once before."

Leo growled "I was afraid of this, he's finally made his move."

"You know who's behind this?"

"Yeah, his name is Walker and he's the warden of the Ghost Zone prison. I caused a jailbreak about 6 months before I moved here because he imprisoned me while I was looking for my brother's birthday gift. My guess is that they're looking for us so he can get revenge." he went into an alley and transformed "Well you know what to do."

"Yeah I do." Danny followed his lead "Let's do this."

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" _This was the scene in Amity Park last night as ghosts- That's right, ghosts- caused hundreds of thousands in damage. I'm Shelley Makamoto and this is day two of Ghost Watch."_

Mayor Montez turned off the broadcast and turned back to the rest of the students "Now I know that you kids are scared because ghosts are scary scary things, but I came to your school not because this is a great photo opportunity but because you children are our future. Voters, that is anyway. And now I'd like to turn this over to Principal Ishiyama who's here to inform you about some exciting rules and restrictions."

Danny curled up in his seat "This is going to end very very badly."

Then Principal Ishiyama stepped up onto the stage "Due to the continuing and escalating ghost threat here's the way we're going to limit your freedom. Firstly, students are to have no contact with these spirits. Second, all students will be escorted to their homes directly after school. Thirdly, by order of the new security advisor of the mayor there will be a 9 o'clock curfew."

"Okay who's the brain dead security advisor that came up with ideas as lame as those?"

Leo sighed "I've got a pretty good idea."

"What are you- Oh no, you don't mean-"

Sure enough, that was when Jack and Maddie barged in "Fear not young ones, we're here to make sure this school is prepared for any ghost emergency."

"And here we go."

Maddie pulled out a megaphone "You must be cautious, at any time one of these ectoplasmic malefactors- Hi sweetie- could appear out of nowhere."

"...Leo, is it time to sit in the back where nobody can notice us?"

"Time to sit in the back where nobody can notice us." Leo promptly led Danny in sneaking to the back where nobody could or would notice them, only to notice his Ghost Sense go off "Oh crap. Danny."

"Yeah." Danny noticed his Ghost Sense go off as well "Why does it have to be here and now of all times?"

"Well Walker probably just wants to spite me in any sort of way he can."

That was when Wulf appeared on the stage and let out a howl, terrifying everyone present, the following chaos allowing Walker and his goons to overshadow Dash, Paulina and Ishiyama.

"Duck!" Leo forced Danny to crouch down "There are so many ghosts in here our Ghost Senses are going insane, and on top of that we can't transform."

That was when Wulf grabbed both of them by the neck and slammed them to the ground "Servi."

"Get away from them!" an Ecto blast sent Wulf flying into a wall, courtesy of Raphael, branding a green high tech gauntlet on his arm "You guys alright?"

"Yeah don't worry, we're fine." Leo told him "But the problem is that we can't transform with so many people here."

Seeing Bullet and the others hovering above the crowd, Wulf quickly phased through the wall and fled.

"Weird, it's like he's running from something."

"I can guess what." Raphael pointed to where Bullet and the others were chasing after Wulf "Is he another escaped fugitive?"

"I don't know but either way you'd better be careful, now that they've seen what you're capable of in a battle Walker might try to make some use out of you."

"Don't worry, I've got that covered." he pointed to the belt he was wearing.

"What's with the Specter Deflector?" asked Danny.

"It's different from the one your parents made, it's made of a special material found only in the Ghost Zone called Ecto-tanium. Still though, since they can't make use out of me they might try to make use out of your parents."

"I never thought of that."

"We've got other things to worry about." Leo looked outside in the hallways and saw Wulf phase through the floor.

"Should we go after him?"

"No, there's too many people around. For now let's hurry and get into the safe area."

What neither of them noticed was that Mr Lancer was quickly overshadowed by one of Walker's goons.

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The school day ended.

Leo was walking towards his house with Danny while discussing their plan of action "Don't forget that Walker is mainly after me to get revenge but I doubt he wouldn't go after you or your family just to spite me."

"What's our plan then?" asked Danny "And what am I gonna tell my parents about me skipping out on curfew to train?"

"Oh my brother cleared that up with them, you're now officially the third member of our own ghost fighting squad." he led Danny inside and into the living room.

Raphael was waiting for them, along with Tucker, Sam, Star and Kwan "Hey guys, you ready to get started?"

"Yeah, we've gotta find a way to drive Walker away before he hurts anybody."

"And what's the cover story for this?" asked Danny "I doubt even my ghost hating parents would be cool with me fighting ghosts on a school night. That, and my parents recruited Dash and Paulina for what they call Ghostkateers."

"Well if they get a lame name then it's only fair that we get one too, from now on the 8 of us are Team Hunter."

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Lunch came at school the next day.

Maddie was on patrol and embarrassing Danny more than ever "Alright kids, hurry up and eat your nutritious meal." then she began with the embarrassing Danny part "Hi sweetie, here's a nutritious bag lunch."

"Hitting it!" Jack drove up in the Fenton RV and activated a ghost shield, surrounding all of the students and everyone present "This portable ghost shield only has enough power for 15 minutes so chew, chew like the wind!"

Leo noticed Danny wolfing down his sandwich "Hey man, are you okay?"

Danny let out a snort, his tone dripping with sarcasm "Why wouldn't I be okay? Just because the town is on high alert, my parents are taking over my school and embarrassing me more than I ever thought possible, and I'm chewing so fast I think that I just swallowed my sport?"

"I can fix one of those things." Leo phased his hand into Danny's stomach and quickly pulled out the sport "There you go."

"Thanks, but don't ever reach inside my stomach again. Anyway, all I know is that whenever I get 5 minutes of freedom I'm gonna toss that blabbering hairball who started this right back into the Ghost Zone."

"I don't really think he was blabbering, I'm pretty sure he was just speaking Esperanto."

"Esper- what now?"

"Esperanto, it's an artificial language from the 1800's. Now it's only purpose these days is to give geeks a secret language to talk to other geeks." he pointed to where Tucker was talking to two other geeks using Esperanto "See?"

"Nice, so do you have any idea what that wolf ghost was saying?"

"Not really no but I could tell that he looked really scared like he wanted help-" he paused when his Ghost Sense went off "Hold on." he looked and saw Wulf phase through the ghost shield and into the Fenton RV.

"Please don't tell me he's here again."

"He is."

"But we're chewing like the wind inside of an anti ghost shield so where could he be?" he was answered by the Fenton RV exploding, much to the dismay of Jack, causing the ghost shield to dispel.

"Give you one guess."

Wulf tried to pounce at Leo, but his collar shocked him, causing him to howl in pain.

Bullet floated up behind him pushing a button to activate the collar "That ought to quiet him down a little bit."

One of the guards was concerned "You're using the collar? But Walker said-"

"Walker isn't here, now get it!"

Wulf took off, with Bullet and the guards chasing after him.

"Let's go!" Leo pulled Danny under the table "Alright, it's-"

"Hey guys." Jazz poked her head under the table.

"Bad timing Jazz, we're in the middle of something."

"Yeah I figured, but this isn't the best place for something like that."

"You got a better place?"

"Yeah, behind there." she pointed to a nearby tree.

"...Cool thanks." he promptly dragged Danny behind that tree.

"What was that about?" asked Danny.

"Not important, just go ghost!" Leo transformed.

Danny followed his lead.

"Okay let's go." Leo charged off towards some of the guards, only to notice Jack preparing to fire at him ' _That looks like that portable ghost portal blaster that Dad had, he's trying to send me back to the Ghost Zone!'_ he quickly dodge the blast, causing it to hit two of the guards and send them back into the Ghost Zone.

"So he's using portable ghost portals now? Well that's just great." Danny quickly flew up alongside Leo "So what about Scooby Doo down there?"

"Well he's big, he's hairy and he's a ghost, but if Walker sent his second in command and this many goons after him then there has to be at least some good in him. Just wait here, I'll handle this one myself." he blitzed past Bullet and severed the Ecto chain binding Wulf's tail "Alright, go Ghost Stinger!" he attempted to unleash his ghost stinger, but instead unleashed a blast of green lightning, frying Bullet and causing him to scream in pain and retreat. Then Leo turned his attention to Wulf as he lowered himself back to the ground "Easy boy, ni estas viaj amikoj."

Wulf sniffed him, then licked him gleefully.

"It's alright Danny, he's cool."

"If you say so." Danny lowered himself to the ground and allowed himself to be licked, albeit very reluctantly "Great."

"Nobody move!" that was when Jack bolted up from the buses and aimed the Fenton Ghost Fisher, which was pointed "As soon as I get this thing untangled you three beasties are so going down!"

"Okay racist, if that's how you wanna play it then fine." Leo fired a simple Ecto Ray from his finger, knocking the Fenton Ghost Fisher out of Jack's hands, leaving him to run after it like a jackass.

"That was kind of overkill, he really isn't much of a threat you know." Danny pointed out.

"Yeah I know, but wherever he is your mom isn't far behind."

"...Oh crap."

"Ahem."

Danny slowly turned his head to the side and saw Maddie standing there aiming the potable portal blaster "Oh boy."

Then she suddenly powered it down "Go."

"...Huh?"

"Last warning, take the wolf and go."

"...Okay." not really sure what to make of that, Danny grabbed Wulf and took off.

' _So he fled.'_

Leo shot her a look "You know something don't you?"

She said nothing.

"That's what I thought." he promptly took off after Danny and Wulf.

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Leo led Danny and Wulf back to his house "This ought to do, at least for now."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Danny.

"This is our best option, your home is Ghostkateer central so there's no way you could bring him there. Besides, out of the two of us I'm the only one who sort of understands him and my brother is compassionate towards ghosts so long as they don't try to hurt others and he's the only one who can figure out a way to get that collar off."

Danny reached for the collar, only to be hit with a menacing snarl.

"He said not to touch it."

"Really? I guess I missed the memo. Anyway I've gotta hurry and get my Fenton Thermos out of my locker."

"Alright, I'll go with you just in case Walker tries anything but first I'll let my brother know about the big guy here."

"I've already got an idea." Raphael made himself known from the doorway "So what is Walker up to?" he then repeated the question in Esperanto.

Wulf said something in Esperanto.

"Well I'll leave you to it." Leo then took off.

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Danny led Leo to his locker as he grabbed his Fenton Thermos "Alright, I've got it."

"Remember, don't let your guard down." Leo whispered "Walker and his goons could be lurking anywhere right now."

"Okay, listen up." Dash's voice got their attention.

"Hold on." they poked their heads into a room.

"Is everybody clear with the plan?"

Paulina nodded "Yes yes, it should all go down tomorrow after the town meeting."

"Agreed. But first…" Dash suddenly blitzed over and grabbed both Danny and Leo and slammed them against the wall before discarding the body, revealing Walker as the one who was inhabiting it.

"Walker, so you finally showed yourself." Leo snarled.

"And I've got both of you punks right where I want you." he made a hand signal and every ghost inhabiting the other people in the room undid their overshadowing "So how does it feel Hunter? Nowhere for you to run, nowhere for you to hide? Well guess what boys, I'm gonna turn your whole world against the two of you and by the time I'm done you're gonna be begging for the safety of my prison in the Ghost Zone where you belong."

"There's only one thing I'm begging for Walker." Danny unleashed an Ecto Ray to the face, sending him crashing to the ground "And that's for you to try a little something called mouthwash!" and he took off through the roof.

"You little-"

"You heard the man, your breath smells like his shoes!" Leo took off after Danny.

"Don't just stand there gawking at me you fools, get them!" Walker then overshadowed Dash again.

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Leo stopped Danny in mid air once they were a fair distance away from the school "Don't worry, they'll come to us."

"You're mine!" Dash charged at them in a rage.

Leo tackled Dash to the ground and slammed him onto the top of a car outside the Nasty Burger, then dodged a body slam from Lancer and flipped him into the ground.

"Got you!" Ishiyama grabbed Leo with an electrified grappling gun, electrocuting him.

Leo gritted his teeth and suddenly unleashed a blast of electricity, frying the gun and sending Ishiyama flying into a building "Hey Danny, how are you holding up on your end?"

"How do you think?" Danny hit Leo in his crack with a mini Ecto Ray from the fingertip, which was actually pretty impressive considering the situation he was in.

Yeah, see Paulina was grinding Danny against a building, actually several buildings "You can't get away from me!"

"Wow, I've been waiting for all of puberty for a girl to say that to me and now thanks to Walker I can't even enjoy it." he promptly through Paulina into a billboard as he landed on the side of a building.

Leo landed beside him "So how are you holding up?"

"A couple bruises, I think my rib is cracked. You?"

"My internal organs are fried, a couple bruises, maybe two or three ribs cracked upon impact. Oh look, there's that other A-Lister that's never actually spoken before."

That A-Lister, who's name is Dale according to the website, tried out a couple of moves with a ghost baton in hopes of intimidating them.

Leo fired an Ecto Ray from his finger, sending him crashing to the ground "Lame." he then slammed him into the ground further by landing on him "Even more lame."

"Or we're just that good." Danny landed beside him.

"Yeah I guess-" then Leo suddenly fell to one knee and coughed up some ectoplasm, which can be assumed to be the ghost version of blood.

"Hey man are you alright?"

"Like I said before, my organs were fried. I'm pretty sure I've got a little bit of internal bleeding."

"Come on." Danny slung Leo's arm over his shoulder "Let's head over to my house, we can take cover there." he quickly flew off as fast as he could, with Dash and the others right on their tale, and flew inside of Fenton Works and activated the ghost shield, trapping Dash and the others outside.

"Should we go after them?" asked Ishiyama.

"Don't bother, it won't do any good." Dash told her "It's that anti ghost dome, we can't get in there but they can't get out and by tomorrow this place will be under complete lockdown." that was when Walker exited Dash's body "I need to hurry and put the final phase of my plan into action and tie up some loose ends." and he flew off, leaving Bullet to take over Dash's body in his place.

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Walker stood outside the Hunter house, which also had a ghost shield activated "I can't get past this ghost shield, but for this I don't need to be. You've outlived your usefulness Wulf. Goodbye." he pressed the button.

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Raphael jumped when he noticed Wulf screaming in agony "That collar is hurting him, it must be some sort of torture device." he quickly pulled out a PDA and hacked into the collar, allowing him to override the collar and take it off.

"Mi libera!" Wulf pounced.

"Of course you're free, you-"

Wulf fled out the window, his claws allowing him to tear through the dome.

"...You're welcome!"

"Dankon!" could be heard in the distance.

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Danny woke up and found himself in a chair with a blanket covering him ' _A blanket?_ Wait a minute, I fell asleep?" he looked out the window "Well at least the ghost shield hasn't been turned off." he looked at the clock "And it's 10:18?!" he looked and saw Leo lying unconscious on the couch, bandages covering his wounded chest ' _Leo…'_

"His injuries aren't serious, he'll be fine with just a little bit of rest."

Danny's head snapped to the side to see Maddie standing in the doorway "Mom, how did you get in? The shield is still up."

"Danny it's a ghost shield not a human shield."

' _Dammit Danny, you had to slip up!_ Right right, sorry I'm just a little freaked out over everything."

"Danny you can drop the act."

"...What act?"

"Danny, I know about your secret."

"...You know about _that_ secret?"

"Yes."

"...Well just to make sure we're talking about the same thing…" Danny promptly transformed into his ghost form "You meant this right?"

"I tried to give you a hint yesterday but it didn't catch on."

"You mean when you let me go?"

"I thought that was obvious enough."

"...My god I am an idiot. So how much about this do you really know?"

"We can talk about that later, but what's the situation right now?"

"Well I don't know much about this Walker guy other than the fact that he hates Leo for causing some kind of jailbreak in the Ghost Zone, and now he's trying to turn everyone against us."

"Makes sense…" a voice rasped out.

Danny helped Leo sit up "Easy man, you're still hurt."

"I can take… worse than this…" Leo forced himself to his feet "He's trying to turn everyone against us, if he can't keep us as his prisoners in the Ghost Zone then he's probably trying to make sure we're imprisoned in our own world."

"That would explain this." Maddie turned on the TV.

Montez was speaking at a press conference regarding the ghost incidents " _We only have one piece of business today and that is defeating the ghosts that infest our town, and to do that I'm calling for a vote to cede all ghost policing and security decisions to Maddie Fenton."_ then his eyes glowed red " _I mean Jack, Jack Fenton. The completely competent Jack Fenton."_

" _There ya go!"_

" _And we've located the two ghosts responsible for all the terror inflicted on our town."_ he held up two pictures, one of Danny and one of Leo.

Maddie turned off the TV "Say what you will about this Walker, he's a lot like Quagmire from Family Guy, he's despicable but he's as good as he is thorough."

"I made that same analogy." Leo coughed up some blood into his sleeve.

"Leo, I know you have a sense of humor but this is serious." Danny pointed out "We're both getting our asses kicked all over the place. First it's at school, then it's at home and now there's this? At this rate Walker is gonna turn us both into public ghost enemies #1."

Maddie held out a Fenton Thermos "Here honey, you're going to need this."

"Mom you've gotta be nuts, Leo and I can't leave this house or we're dead."

"Well you have to do something, if you don't then who will? Besides, you're a Fenton and you're my son and I know I didn't raise a quitter, and I know that someone with the blood of Benjamin Hunter wouldn't quit either. It's just something to think about." and she walked off towards the town meeting.

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"Order, order!" Montez tried to call everyone off "All in favor of declaring martial law and allowing the completely competent Jack Fenton to mobilize a massive ghost hunt, please say-"

"I think the two of us may be too young to vote, but we're casting our votes anyway." Leo was quick to alert everyone that he and Danny were present, drawing screams of terror from the civilians "You people have to listen, the two of us are on your side."

"You're not fooling anybody ghost kids, you're both going down!" Jack aimed the Fenton Ghost Fisher, which was yet again tangled "As soon as I untangle this thing."

Leo fired a mini Ecto Ray, knocking the Ghost Fisher out of his hand, also unintentionally sending him flying, causing mass panic with the people "Come on Jack, you're making this way too easy on us.

"Eat hot plasma ghost scum!" that was when Maddie appeared and fired at them with a laser attached to her arm, being sure to intentionally miss, and winked.

"Duck!" Danny pulled Leo towards the ground, only for both of them to be pulled through the floor by Montez, unaware that Wulf had seen this from outside.

Jack was going over the weapons "Ghost Bazooka, Fenton Fisher, whatever the heck this thing does."

Maddie promptly snatched it away "Jack what are you doing?"

"I'm getting ready to hunt some ghosts, I'm gonna tear those ghost kids apart in a million different- Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Jack I love you but we don't have time for this, who's the better shot?"

"You are."

"Who's better with the weaponry?"

"You are."

"Who's a 9th degree black belt?"

"You are. You are?" he handed her a cannon "Here, I'll get the Ghostkateers."

"And that's why we make a great team. Here's a cookie."

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Leo coughed up some blood "Dammit… _So that's where he ended up._ What a surprise Walker, I should've guessed you would end up inside the guy who makes the rules."

Montez smirked "Shouldn't you be running?"

"No I don't think so, shouldn't you?" Danny held up a Fenton Thermos with a smug smirk.

Most of the ghosts scattered while Paulina charged and grabbed Danny by the head.

"I've got her." Leo mustered his strength and slammed his hand into her chest, blasting the guard out of her.

"Wha- Huh?" Paulina regained her awareness and screamed when she saw the guard.

Danny promptly caught it in the Fenton Thermos "Alright, that's one down and four to go. Are you alright?"

"You saved me, so you and him are like friendly ghosts?"

"Yeah, with some semi friendly advice. Run like hell and don't look back!"

"Gotcha!" that was when Dale charged in and slugged Danny with a vicious uppercut, knocking the Fenton Thermos away.

"Stay back…" Leo held up two hands and unleashed two simultaneous Ecto Rays, knocking the ghosts out of Dale and Mr Lancer, before he fell to one knee.

Dale and Lancer screamed, then saw Danny and Leo and screamed again, followed by them running for their lives.

"Should've figured." Leo coughed up some ectoplasm.

Danny helped him to his feet "You see the Thermos anywhere?" then he looked and saw the guards pounce at them, only for them to disappear into portals that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"What…?"

"I've got you boys covered." Maddie made herself known with a Portal Generator.

"Thanks-"

Ishiyama and Dash suddenly pulled them away and held up the Fenton Thermos "Are you looking for this?" she prepared to suck them in.

"Ne!" Wulf suddenly appeared and slashed his claws at the, forcing them to retreat back a short ways.

"What are you doing?" Dash snarled.

"Amikij, friends." so Wulf then proceeded to rip Bullet and the last guard out of Dash and Ishiyama's bodies.

"I've got them!" Maddie promptly sent both Bullet and the guard back into the Ghost Zone.

Danny gave a thumbs up "Thanks-"

"Gotcha!" Montez suddenly grabbed both Danny and Leo and flew upwards with them.

"What are you doing?"

"There's all types of prisons punks."

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By this point, several reporters had arrived on the scene "Ghost kids attacking city hall during a town meeting. Bring you live to an evil ghost teen on the rampage."

That was when Montez burst out, holding Danny and Leo in a way that made it look like they were taking him hostage "I'm gonna make sure your prison is the town where you live. Help! Help me! Help!" he pulled them back inside "Now they're never gonna trust you."

Danny smirked despite the situation as he pulled Leo away from Montez's grip "Looks like we're not the only ones who are never gonna be trusted again."

"What are you-" Montez looked back ' _Oh shit…'_

"Yep, I guess neither of us win."

"Sufice!" Wulf used his claws and forcefully ripped Walker out of Montez's body.

"Now!"

"Right!" Maddie suddenly appeared and aimed her Portal Generator at Walker "Get away from our duly elected leader you odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and posthuman consciousness!" and she fired a blast.

"Ciu finis!" Wulf grabbed Walker and pulled him towards the blast radius, causing both of them to be hit by the portal.

"Wulf… no…" Leo reached out to him despite the pain of his fried organs "You don't… have to… do this…"

"Friend… we will meet again…"

"I know…"

"So will we punk, so will we." Walker vowed "This is how it ends, with both of you being feared on Earth and wanted in the Ghost Zone. You've lost Hunter, do you hear me? LOST!" and with that, both of them disappeared into the portal.

"Wulf… I'll find you… and save you… I promise…" then Leo collapsed and lost consciousness, causing him to revert back to his human form.

"I've got you." Danny slung Leo's arm over his shoulder, stared at Maddie for a moment, then phased through the wall.

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Leo suddenly burst up and winced, clutching his bandaged chest in pain "Where… Where am I?"

"In your house."

Leo looked and saw Danny sitting by his bed "Oh… Well how long have I been out?"

"Almost half a day or so."

"And how did everything turn out after I passed out?"

"This is how." Danny held up a newspaper claiming the both of them as public ghost enemies #1 and 2.

"Well that's just great, we beat the bad guy and we still look like the plague." Leo laid back down and sighed "I owe you an apology Danny, if it wasn't for me then you never would've gotten involved in this."

"I wouldn't be too sure, even if he didn't hate me I can't have my mentor fighting off an army of ghost cops on his own right?"

"...Thanks, I do appreciate that. So how did your mom take the whole thing about you being half ghost?"

"Well we're about to find out. Later." and he left.

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Danny sat with Maddie in the kitchen, discussing the recent events "So how long have you known about… you know. It was Leo wasn't it?"

Maddie shrugged "Well that was part of it, after all I know that he's been training you in the art of ghost hunting. That's mainly because he came to ask me for permission to train you."

"Really?"

"Yes. But aside from that, going back to the whole Danny Phantom thing I've just always had a feeling. After all, a mother always knows."

"...It was when I turned on the portal, it hit me with a blast of ectoplasm and fused some of it with my DNA, at least from what Leo's brother tells me."

"Who else knows about this?"

"Well Tucker and Sam were there when it happened, then there's Leo and his brother, and two other kids from school found out, Kwan and Star, former A-Listers." Danny let out a long and heavy sigh "I wanted to tell you and dad, I really did, but I was just afraid of how you guys would react."

"You shouldn't be afraid to tell me anything Danny, ever. This doesn't change anything, you're still my son and I'm still your mother. Leo's told me a lot of the great things the two of you have been doing, and I'm so proud of the man that you've become."

"I'm the man that you and dad raised me to be, Leo is just trying to guide me a little bit. But I can't tell you how much this means to me." he hugged her.

Maddie quickly returned the hug "Don't think this means I'm not going to be overprotective of you like I always am."

"Oh I wouldn't have it any other way." a brief pause "Still though, if I thought it was gonna be hard to find places to go ghost during school before."

"That's true, so what exactly is your plan now?"

"Well I say it doesn't matter if everybody in this town thinks I'm public enemy number 1, a hero doesn't just give up because people are against him. After all, look at guys like Spider-Man or the Hulk. Or Saitama."

"Spoken like a true hero sweetie."

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 **(The Quest)**

A quiet night in Amity Park.

A ghost by the name of Fujun stood in a shop in the Chinatown of Amity Park, looking down at a golden staff, which he promptly claimed as his own "Finally, it is within my grasp."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

Fujun turned and saw Leo standing behind him in a martial arts stance "So you plan to stop me do you? Very well." he kicked a vase towards him.

Leo caught it while ducking under various swipes of the staff.

Fujun phased through a window and attempted to make his escape.

Leo quickly placed down the vase and flew off after him, forming a staff made of his own ecto energy to counter the golden staff.

Fujun blocked every strike and retreated back a short distance "Tell me boy, do you truly believe you can stop me?"

"I don't just think I can, I know I can."

Fujun retreated up to a rooftop.

Leo followed after him and used his duplication to cut him off from escaping.

"It is only fair to warn you, I have trained with the best."

"Well then I guess it's only fair to warn you, I have too."

"You are very confident in your abilities, too confident. Since the both of us are honorable fighters I shall offer you a deal, if I am unable to defeat you in three moves I shall surrender."

"Fine by me." Leo dematerialized his staff "You can have 50 moves and I'll still win." he bowed.

Fujun returned the gesture.

Leo charged.

Fujun caught both arms and kicked Leo square in the chest.

Leo caught Fujun's foot "Sorry but I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that." he charged.

"So will you." Fujun matched a kick with one of his own, then grabbed Leo by the waist and threw him, then aimed a kick, breaking through the floor beneath them.

Leo dodged the kick and returned to his combat stance "I'll give you credit where it's due, you have skill. That being said, you're still going down."

"Do not forget boy, I still have one more move left."

"Well feel free to waste it." Leo charged forward and fired a barrage of kicks.

Fujun swiftly dodged them all with ease and grabbed the staff, then used it to kick Leo in his side, sending him crashing into the street, hard "That's three, I win."

Leo floated back up, gripping his side in pain as he coughed up some ectoplasm "Wh-Where did you learn to fight like that without your ghost powers?"

"It's quite simple, if you wish to be the best then you must seek out the true master and hope he will train you." and with that, Fujun disappeared.

Leo then decided to disappear before the cops showed up.

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Morning came.

Leo was packing his bag ' _I guess I need just as much training as Danny does.'_

Danny came in behind him "You don't have to walk off and mope just because you got your ass handed to you once, it happens. Don't forget that it's only been about a week since that whole thing with Walker and your organs are still somewhat fried, it's gonna take time for you to fully heal. Just give it a little time, we'll track this Fujun guy down and you can return the favor 10 fold."

"You don't get it Danny, that ass kicking that I got from Fujun showed me how much I still have to learn before I can properly train you. I mean I'm a 4th degree black belt and I got my ass handed to me."

"Well then why don't we just try out that new combat simulator that your brother and my mom have been working on?"

"I've already trained as much as I can with my brother but clearly it wasn't enough, as I am now there's only one person who can help me. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm beginning to develop some kind of electricity powers so maybe I can get help with that too."

"So you're gonna seek out this true master this guy was talking about and train under him?"

"I'm not coming back until I find him."

"How do you know this true master even exists? Do you even have a clue where you're gonna go?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Well that sounds like a plan."

"According to the legend the true master lives on the mountains in a realm deep within the heart of the Ghost Zone and can only be found by the most serious and devoted of students."

"This is what you want?"

"This is what I need."

"Well good luck, I'll hold down the fort while you're gone."

"Thanks." and Leo promptly walked out the front door.

"That guy takes himself way too seriously sometimes."

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3 days of travel passed.

Leo, having stayed in his ghost form the entire time, found himself in a small village in front of a large series of mountains ' _The mountains deep within the heart of the Ghost Zone, just like dad's journal said.'_ he continuously wandered through the village until he found the ghost of an old woman in front of a statue of a samurai "Excuse me?"

"Go away." she threw a turnip at him.

Leo easily caught it "I'm sorry to bother you but I've come to train under the true master."

"Of course you have, boys like you always want to train with the true master. Why else would you be here in the middle of the Ghost Zone?"

"So you know where I can find him?"

"He cannot train you."

"I've come a long way, if it's alright with you I'd rather hear that from the true master himself."

"...Very well, if you want to find the true master then you must get to the top of the mountain before the sun falls."

"My thanks." he started forward.

She held out her cane to stop him "The root to the top is very challenging, many have tried and many have failed to reach the top."

"I won't know whether or not I'm one of those many until I try now will I?"

"You are not dressed properly for such a journey, the only way the true master will see you is if you leave everything from your world behind." she tossed him a gi.

"...Alright, I guess."

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10 minutes passed.

The old woman removed all of the gear from Leo's backpack and instead filled it to the brink with turnips ' _There, now he has the proper equipment.'_

Leo emerged from the training area, now dressed in a white gi "The glasses have to stay, that's not negotiable."

"Very well." she handed him his bag.

"My gear and my jumpsuit?"

"The true master will not teach you with them."

Leo looked up at a statue of a samurai and bowed "So where do I go?"

"Come with me young one, I will show you where the path begins." she led him onwards "Oh and one more thing, return to your human form. You must not resort to your ghost powers on this quest."

"...Fine." Leo powered down and followed her, not noticing a shadowy figure approach his gear as he left it behind.

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Soon enough, Leo found himself at the start of the path in front of a river "No flying, no Ecto lasso, so I guess that means that I'll just have to swim across."

"Are you always so confident?"

Leo looked up and saw a gigantic ghost bear on two legs in armor standing next to him ' _Okay it's official, I've seen the epitome of freakiness the Ghost Zone has to offer._ Are you talking, as in to me?"

"You don't see anyone else on the bridge do you? I am the guardian of the river, if you wish to reach the top of the mountain then you must first get past me."

"Very well." Leo charged in with a spin kick.

The bear promptly swatted Leo back with his claw "I don't really wish to fight you little warrior, perhaps you have not noticed but I am quite large."

"Oh I noticed, I just don't care. I've fought off guys twice your height."

"Very well, then come."

Leo bowed and aimed a kick.

The bear promptly grabbed him by the leg, slammed him to the ground, and sat on him "Are you still so certain you can win?"

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While Leo was gone, Danny had his hands full with problems involving his own family, or Jazz to be more specific.

Jazz had fallen for a biker ghost by the name of Johnny 13 who quickly tried to convince her to go steady with him.

However, what she didn't know was that he was actually planning to use her body for the spirit of his girlfriend Kitty.

He had nearly succeeded, but Danny stopped him at the last second and sent him back to the Ghost Zone, along with his bad luck Shadow.

As that was happening, Tucker was trying to change his image only to be labeled as Bad Luck Tuck, unknowingly being the inadvertent target of Johnny 13's Shadow.

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The bear sat on Leo out of sheer boredom "Well this is boring."

"Shut up!" Leo struggled to get free.

"Please just give up already little warrior, you don't want to put yourself through this little warrior. There is still time for you to turn back."

"No way in hell!" Leo freed himself and retreated a short distance "I don't care what I'm up against, I'll never turn back!"

"I really must admire your commitment." the bear slashed at Leo with his claws.

Leo leapt over the claws and kicked the bear in the face, sending him stumbling back "Like the wise man once said, the bigger they are the harder they fall."

The bear unleashed a shockwave from his claws, sending Leo crashing to the ground, then pounced at him.

Leo caught the bear with his bare hands, unconsciously channeling electricity into his palms, and hit the bear with a blast of lightning, sending him splashing into the river. He took a moment to process and looked at his hands ' _So I was right, I'm developing electrokinesis powers but I can't use them consciously yet.'_

The bear emerged from the water and bowed his head "You may proceed but you must be warned, once you have crossed the river there is no turning back." and he walked away, the path over the river appearing shortly after.

"Well that took a lot more time than I would've like but at least my hunch about my powers was proven right." and Leo promptly ran across the bridge, unaware.

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Soon enough, Leo was running along a mountain path coated with pebbles "Note to self, next time a mysterious old woman tells you to leave your shoes behind you take them anyway." he continued along only to notice something "What the-?"

The old woman was walking ahead of him with two buckets of water, and looked back "So you made it this far."

"How did you get past the bear?"

"The same way you did, I walked."

"Very funny, so do you think you could- _No Leo, remember what mom said. Always respect your elders._ So do you want me to help you with that?"

"Finally, a young man who understands proper manners." she handed him the buckets.

Leo struggled to carry the buckets, being forced to shoulder them "So how far am I from reaching the true master?"

"That all depends on you, you will not see the true master until you are ready."

"And how far do you want me to carry these things?"

"Not very, just far enough for an old woman to rest her back. Now then, since you are in such a hurry your path lies there." she pointed to a road leading into a cave.

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A dark cave.

That was what Leo saw as he wandered inside ' _Come on, where's this next guardian I'm supposed to face?'_ he looked around the center of the cave and saw only a single candle "Where am I supposed to go? There's no path, there's no way out."

"None that you can ssssee." a voice hissed.

Leo looked down and saw a scaly figure slithering around, then looked up and saw a hooded figure in front of him "And who are you exactly?"

"I am the guardian of the cave, to continue your journey to the top of the mountain you must first defeat me." the figure removed his hood, revealing himself as a blind ghost snake.

"You're blind. I won't fight a blind opponent, it wouldn't be fair."

"Very well." the snake then blew out the candle "Now the fight isss even, neither of usss can see."

Leo heard a hiss and quickly kicked off several rocks ' _Dammit, he can tell where I am but I can't tell where he is.'_

"It seems that I have an advantage."

"I took down the bear and I'll take you down too, I don't care what it takes." he aimed a barrage of attacks.

The snake easily dodged all of them "But you cannot see me, you only see what is right in front of you. If you wish to find me then you must go beyond what you see. You cannot trust your eyes." the snake lunged at him from behind, easily dodging a barrage of attacks, and sent him flying into a wall "You cannot trust your ears."

' _I can't see him without any light, I can't hear him because of the echo effects, so how am I- Wait, that's it! I can sense his ecto signature.'_

The snake lunged from in front of him.

Leo held out a hand and caught him "Perfect, now I've got you."

The snake let out a hiss and relit the candle "Very well, you may proceed." and he disappeared into the shadows as another passageway appeared.

Leo exited the cave and found another path along the side of the mountain "Great, I'm never gonna get anywhere at this rate." and he continued on, unaware of a figure following him from the shadows.

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Soon enough, Leo was climbing up a high cliff, lamenting his situation and decision to come here to train "You couldn't just take a class or something, you had to travel into the heart of the Ghost Zone. There has to be an easier way up this mountain."

"There is an easy way up this hill and a right way, which do you choose?"

Leo looked up to see the old woman picking herbs "How the hell did you get up there?"

"The same way as you, I climbed."

"Oh for- How much further is it until I reach the top of the mountain?"

"Such a journey cannot be measured in steps taken young halfa."

"...Look, I just want to know if we're talking feet or yards or miles."

"Well if you keep stopping to chat then you will never make it up the mountain before sunset falls."

"Oh for- Thanks for your help." now steaming, Leo continued climbing.

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The top of a bamboo forest.

That was what Leo saw when he reached the top of the cliff and pressed onwards ' _Okay, o what's next?'_

That was when a ghost monkey appeared in front of him "I am the guardian of the trees."

"Let me take a wild guess, if I want to get to the top of the mountain then I'll have to defeat you first."

"How did you know I was going to say that? Do you know what I'm going to say next?"

"No."

"Me neither!" he leapt back across various bamboo sticks "It's been a long time since anyone has gotten this far up the mountain, you must be a skilled warrior to have defeated both the bear and the snake."

"I guess, now let's hurry up and get this over with." Leo walked across the bamboo sticks.

"No no no no, we do not need to fight so soon. Would you like some tea?"

"All I want is to fight you so I can get to the top."

"Yes I see, we are very serious. Very well, now let's go!" the monkey pounced.

Leo tried to fire off a few kicks.

The monkey dodged them with ease and promptly ripped off the sleeves of Leo's gi "Monkey see, monkey do!"

Leo stopped himself from falling by gripping onto two bamboo sticks.

"Monkey just made a fool of you! Unless you can quickly grow a tail it appears that you are at a disadvantage." the monkey whacked Leo in the face using his tail.

"You think so?" Leo kicked the monkey in the face and followed him upwards, then charged as he threw a few kicks then and there.

The monkey dodged them all with ease and aimed some kicks of his own.

Leo dodged them all and retreated downwards "Monkey see, monkey do!" he bent back a bamboo stick and used it to hit the monkey in the face and send him flying "Halfa just made an ass out of you!"

The monkey let out a laugh as he got to his feet and summoned a path "Very well, you may proceed."

"Thank you." Leo then went on his way.

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Sunset came.

Leo found himself nearly at the top of the mountain ' _It's almost sunset, but I've almost reached the top. Come on Hunter, it's just a little bit further._ Now to meet the true master." he started up the last stairway.

"I think not!" an ecto lasso suddenly grabbed him from behind and pulled him back downwards.

Leo looked back and saw Fujun as the one holding the lasso "Fujun."

"Your journey to find the true master has come to an end here and now."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Why else? I've come to train with the true master."

"But you said that you had already trained with the true master."

"That's what I wanted you to think, I knew that if I had told you then you would go and seek out the true master yourself. After that it was simple, all I had to do was follow you up the mountain."

"Well then why did you need me?"

"I could have come up here without you but then I would be tired from fighting all of the guardians like you are now."

"Well I'm not too tired to finish what I started." Leo broke free with a small burst of lightning and charged.

Fujun pushed back a kick using the staff.

"You don't deserve to train with the true master Fujun, you haven't earned it."

"I deserve it more than you, I am the superior warrior." he thrusted the staff forward.

Leo leapt over the staff and landed a kick to the face, knocking the staff away "You aren't so tough without your weapon."

"Maybe not physical weapons, but you forget what abilities ghosts are granted." Fujun then formed an ecto staff and leapt behind Leo, then kicked him in the face, sending him tumbling down the stairs "Excellent, now to meet with the true master." and he continued on towards the top.

' _Dammit…'_ Leo coughed up some blood.

The old woman approached him "Rise young halfa, you must get up once more. Your journey is not over.

Leo coughed up some more blood as he struggled to his feet "I can't fight him… he's too strong… he's using his powers… I have nothing…"

"When you began your journey you had your determination, nothing would be able to deter you from this path and now that you are so close to your goal are you really willing to give up so easily?"

"It was easier at the beginning."

"Beginnings are often easier, but think of all that you have accomplished along your journey. What have you learned from your battles with the bear, the snake and the monkey? How did you defeat them?"

' _...How did I defeat them? Let me think for a second… I beat the bear by countering his movements, containing the electricity within my body and releasing it at just the right moment. I beat the snake by calming my mind and sending out his spirit energy. I beat the monkey by using my surroundings to my advantage._ But what's the point of fighting my way up the mountain when someone else is just going to come up the easy way?"

"There is always going to be someone who does things the easy way, but that should not stop you from doing things the right way. Finish your journey young halfa, you are the only one who can decide when it ends."

Leo looked up "You're right."

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Fujun stood at the top of the mountain "True master, I am ready to train."

"You'll see the true master only when you are ready."

Fujun looked back to see Leo standing at the top of the stairs "You…" he readied himself and his ecto staff "Give up fool, you cannot defeat me."

"I've beaten guys much bigger than you." he aimed a kick.

Fujun blocked the kick with his ecto staff.

"Thunderous Claws of the Iron Bear!" Leo channeled electricity into his hands and thrusted them forward, sending Fujun crashing to the ground with the force of the strike.

"How are you going to beat me if you cannot even see me?" Fujun threw down smoke bombs.

"I don't need to see you." Leo waited and sensed Fujun closing in on him "Strike of the flying serpent!" he unleashed another strike, sending Fujun tumbling back.

"I see that you are truly serious about winning this battle, but so am I!"

"Duel of the leaping monkey!" Leo pounced and gracefully dodged every attack "Use your environment to your advantage!" used an Ecto Ray to fire a large boulder, slamming it into Fujun and sending him tumbling down the stairs "There's an easy way and a hard way down this hill, looks to me like you're taking the hard way." he started to walk away in a truly epic fashion.

"No! The true master must train me!" Fujun charged brought down the golden staff.

The old woman blitzed in front of him and caught the staff with her cane "You did not make it up the mountain with your own skills, you tried before on your own but could not make it. You are nothing but a thief and a cheater. The true master will not train you, not now and not ever!"

"But-!"

"Take him off of my mountain!"

Fujun was promptly escorted away by the bear and the monkey against his will.

"Good riddance."

Leo got to one knee and held out the golden staff to her "Consider this a gift for showing me the way."

She accepted the staff from her.

"You're the true master, but why did you never tell me?"

"Simple, you never asked."

"So why was it so important that I get to the top of the mountain before sunset?"

"It is so much easier to see the path when it's not dark."

"All this time I thought that there was some sort of deep meaning to everything you were telling me."

"You take some things much too seriously young halfa, and some not enough."

"So I've been told. Still though, you told me not to use my ghost powers on my way up the mountain yet everything you've been teaching me was to hone them further wasn't it?"

"Your powers are a gift not a right, you must not take them for granted for you will not always be able to use them."

"I see." Leo bowed "I am ready to train with you true master."

"I believe you are."

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4 days of training passed.

Leo put his jumpsuit back on "Well it looks like my training is complete."

"And just in time considering the events currently taking place."

Leo looked back to see Vlad in his ghost form standing at the top of the stairs "What are you doing here?"

"Your brother sent me to get you, there's a situation back in Amity Park. That disturbing ghost circus Gothica is in town and that albino ringmaster Freakshow has taken control of Daniel using a strange crystal ball."

"You must be speaking of the Blood Orb." the true master made herself known holding a long brown case "That item was once in the possession of the most powerful ghost in existence before he was sealed away. Young halfa Leonardo, I believe it is time for you to return home."

Leo nodded and bowed "It would seem so. Thank you for all you've done for me."

"You can thank me by using your new abilities to defeat that disgraceful human misusing the Blood Orb and saving your friend, and to make sure you can I feel that it is only right that you take this." she opened the case, revealing a long sword with a flaming green blade.

"This is the sword in one of my dad's books."

"The Spirit Sword, one of the most powerful artifacts the Ghost Zone has to offer. Only one of great power in both body and mind may wield it."

Leo slowly picked up the sword, the flames on the blade dying down "It feels absolutely incredible, I can't thank you enough."

"Just save your friend and city."

"I will. Vlad, let's go." and he took off, with Vlad right behind him ' _Just hang on Danny, your senpai is coming to the rescue.'_

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Sam looked around the Circus Gothica train ' _Come on Danny, where are you?'_ she noticed a shadow on the walls of the train car and quickly hid underneath.

"Calm down Sam, it's just me."

"Leo?"

"Yeah." Leo crouched down and showed her the Spirit Sword "A little souvenir from my training in the Ghost Zone, pretty cool huh? Oh yeah, and I found Tucker first."

"Hey Sam." Tucker crouched down, revealing that he was wearing a Circus Gothica hat "Is this a great Circus Gothica hat or what?"

"How's this for an answer?" Sam got up and smacked it away.

"I'll take that as an or what."

"Come on." Leo phased both of them into the car, revealing that inside was millions in gold and treasures, as well as the Blood Orb "Alright guys, there it is. Now let's grab it and-" the three were suddenly sent flying out of the car, but only Leo recovered while Sam and Tucker both hit the ground.

That was when Freakshow emerged with Danny right behind him "An admirable attempt, but futile nonetheless." this was followed by the train beginning to leave.

"Danny, no!" Sam ran after them.

"Yes yes, please scream. It's a shame that anyone who might help you is busy enjoying my free show."

"Come on!" Leo grabbed both Tucker and Sam and flew after the train "And I hate to burst your bubble Freakshow, actually no I don't, there are two people freeing your captive audience."

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Freakshow's ghost assistant Lydia attacked the audience by bringing her ghost tattoos to life and sending them after everyone.

"Ghosts!" Maddie sprung into action, with Jack right behind her.

Sam's parents led everyone to the exit, only to find it blocked off "We're trapped!"

Then a blast from the other side broke down the wall, courtesy of Vlad now sporting an Ecto Blaster "Not anymore you're not."

"Vladdie?" Jack was more surprised than pleased for once "What are you-"

"There's no time to explain Jack, let's hurry and eradicate the rest of these ghosts while the rest of the people get to safety."

"Right."

' _It's the least I can do for you after everything my other half has tried to do to you over the years, old friend.'_

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Leo dropped down onto the roof of one of the cars with Tucker and Sam and helped them push further along, only for them to be confronted by Freakshow's ghost minions "Guys just stay back, let me handle these thugs."

That was when Danny appeared behind them "There's one more you need to worry about."

Sam tried to reason with him "Danny it's us, Tucker and Sam. We're your best friends, don't you remember?"

Danny was about to unleash another blast of fire when he snapped out of it for a second "Sam? Tucker? Leo? I… I…" then he went back under Freakshow's control "I… am a ghost, I have no friends."

Yeah, it turns out Freakshow had climbed up onto the roof with the Blood Orb "Don't waste your breath children, he's under my control now."

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Vlad motioned for the people to get to safety, then turned to Jack "Hurry and equip your assault RV Jack, that way you can head them off at the pass."

"What about you?" asked Maddie.

"My own method of transportation is here now."

Then Raphael burst in on a motorcycle "Come on Mr Masters, hop on! We can head them off at the pass."

"Right." Vlad hopped on and they took off.

"Do you think Leo's training will be enough to stop this Freakshow guy?"

"Considering what I saw back in the Ghost Zone, it should be more than enough. Still though, the fact that he has Daniel under his control could be a problem."

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Freakshow turned to Danny "Don't just stand there, finish them!"

Leo smirked "Hey why don't you try holding that thing up a little bit higher."

Freakshow actually did, only for it to be knocked out of his hands by a scaffolding.

Danny was the one to catch it "Yes."

"Way to go man, now give me 5." Tucker held up his hand for a high 5.

"Now about 6?" Danny shot him into the clutches of one of the other ghosts using a one handed Ecto Ray "5 fingers plus one Ecto Ray, it's really simple when you think about it."

Freakshow smirked "Very good drone, now bring me my staff. Come on, bring it."

"I…"

"Come on Danny, you can fight this." Leo told him "Freakshow isn't the one holding the Blood Orb anymore, you are. Your will is too strong for you to be controlled by some freaky homosexual albino."

"I…"

"Silence!" Freakshow pushed him to the side, knocking him into Sam and leaving her about to fall "Obey me ghost, give me my staff. Come on…"

"I…"

"I saw you up on that high wire Danny, you were fighting him the whole time." Sam urged "You can fight him now Danny, you have to! You're not just a ghost, you're so much more than that!"

"Quiet all of you, I need to think!" by this point they were passing over a bridge.

"Come on Danny!"

"Stop her, stop her now!" Freakshow barked.

"You can do it!"

"You've got a choice to make Danny, the Blood Orb or your girlfriend." Leo told him "It's your choice."

"I'm not his girlfriend!" then Sam suddenly stumbled back and fell off the train, screaming in terror.

"...I didn't mean for that to be so literal but nice work Sam, points for motivation."

"Sam? SAM!" snapping out of Freakshow's control, Danny burst downwards and caught Sam in his arms long before she could hit the ground.

Leo flew down and caught the Blood Orb, then flew back up towards Freakshow "You looking for this?"

"Give it here!" Freakshow lunged at him.

Leo held out a hand, then threw the Blood Orb into the air and fired a blast of lightning, shattering it into too many pieces to count.

"NO!"

"We ghosts may be many things Freakshow, but slaves is nowhere on that list."

"Hey Leo…" Danny floated up and put Sam down, then clutched his head.

"Are you alright now Danny?"

"Yeah I think so, but it's all a gigantic blur. I didn't some bad stuff didn't I?"

"Nothing that can't be fixed, now let's see if we can get Tucker out of Tiny's grip."

That was when Tiny and the other ghosts snapped out of Freakshow's control "What… What happened? Where are we? Are we free? Finally free?"

"Well there's only one way to find out." then Danny and the rest all grabbed Freakshow and phased him through the roof.

"...So that's done." Leo grabbed onto Tucker and Sam "Come on, let's get you guys back to your parents while Danny takes out the trash down there." and he took off with them.

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Freakshow found 4 pissed off ghosts in front of them "Okay, so here's the deal. When I called all of you minions it was really a term of endearment like- like I love my minions."

"And I love burying you in your stolen crap." Danny then proceeded to bury Freakshow in his stolen crap with a single Ecto Ray "You said you wanted a big haul, how about you try that on for size." he looked out the window and found several cop cars, as well as Jack and Maddie with their RV, along with Vlad and Raphael. With this in mind, he turned to the other ghosts "So what do you guys say we stick around and explain to the cops we were all being controlled by an evil ringmaster?"

They said nothing, they just took off.

"You know, I had a feeling that was going to be their answer." and so Danny phased through the roof as well.

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Monday came.

Leo sat with Danny during lunch "So how did your parents and Sam's parents take everything?"

Danny sighed "About as well as you would expect. They said we're heroes, they're proud of us and all that crap, but the two of us and Tucker are still grounded."

"Grounded my snow white ass, that has to be classified as cruel and unusual punishment on so many levels." he pointed to where Sam was wearing a hideous sundress.

"Tell me about it, but apparently it was the only way she could convince her parents to life that restraining order they placed on me."

"Well at least Freakshow is in custody and the stolen goods were returned."

"Yeah…" he looked downcast.

"You still feel guilty about all of the stuff Freakshow made you do. Come on Danny, that wasn't your fault and you know it. Even if nobody else gets that the important thing is that at the very end you proved that your will was stronger than its hold on you.

 **A/N:**

 **I know I only just uploaded a chapter yesterday, but think of it as my way of apologizing for taking so long with the last few.**

 **I had Maddie find out about Danny's secret because I always thought she was way too smart to not notice anything up with Danny, or the similarities between his two halves.**

 **I made a few implications in this chapter that Leo would be getting lightning powers later, instead of giving him ice powers like Danny.**

 **The term Spirit Sword is inspired by the technique used by Kuwabara in the anime Yu Yu Hakusho.**


	5. Friendly Bonding, Soul Man, Pirate Radio

Sam was growing impatient "Will you guys hurry up already, we're gonna be late for school if you keep drooling. Guys? Hello? Are you even listening?"

Danny was drooling at the sight of the truck in front of him "You see guys, isn't it everything I told you it would be and more?"

Tucker just had a stupid grin on his face "You did not lie dude, you did not lie."

"The Ginormo 6000." Leo read aloud from the specification card "Interior includes seats made of owl leather, interior wood panelling from the Amazon rainforest and it gets 12 gallons to the mile."

"What?!" Sam was appalled by what she was hearing "This thing is an environmental nightmare! I know what you guys should do."

"No."

"Come on Leo, you and Danny could totally haunt this place and scare the people away and make them buy anything else but this tree murdering piece of scrap metal."

"Forget it Sam, that just screams irresponsible use of ghost powers."

"But-"

"Just lay off, it's a cool truck and it's not like they're gonna take it for a joyride."

"But-"

"Cut it out Sam, Leo's got a point." Tucker pointed out "Besides, it's not like this would be the first time one of your bad ideas ended up getting Danny into trouble."

"What are you talking about?" asked Leo.

"Oh Danny didn't tell you? See the main reason why he went into his dad's ghost portal in the first place."

"Are you serious?"

"Hey there's no way it was bad just because I was there." Sam protested "If it weren't for me then he'd be flying around with his dad's face on his chest, and you know how you can say thank you? By crushing a few trucks."

"Sam I'm the good guy, I'm supposed to use my powers responsibly." Danny pointed out "The bottom line here is that unless these super awesome trucks are being used for evil I can't and won't do anything."

Tucker promptly went back to staring at the truck "Except wonder if it has a GPS satellite guidance system."

"And don't forget the rims, the big spinning rims."

"Oh for the love of- You know what I give up, I just wish that somebody or something would destroy those stupid trucks." Sam promptly stormed off.

"You might wanna be careful about-" Leo paused when his ghost sense went off ' _She made a wish, my Ghost Sense went off, no doubt Desiree is lurking around and planning something. The only question is, how is she gonna do it?'_

"I wonder what this button does." Danny pushed a button on the truck, followed by a gigantic plastic cow stomping on the truck, crushing it in an instant.

' _Evil cow, interesting choice.'_

"Get away you demonic milk machine, whatever you do you leave this truck behind me alone you got it?" he and Tucker were promptly blasted with milk "Well I don't know about you Tuck but I just became lactose intolerant."

"Okay that's enough bovine action for one morning. It's phantom time!" Leo flashed into his ghost form and drew the Spirit Sword "Finally I get to test this thing out, I didn't get a chance to try it out during that whole thing with Freakshow before."

"It's been 2 months since then."

"Yeah I know, but now I get to test it out." he held up the Spirit Sword and channeled the energy of an Ecto Ray into it, the sword magnifying the power several times over, hitting the cow and incinerating it on the spot.

"...Woah."

"I'll say."

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Later, Danny was walking with Tucker, Sam and Leo, all of them still being covered in milk mind you "I've gotta give you props Leo, way to beat the living cud out of the gigantic cow from earlier."

Leo shrugged "Maybe but it hasn't stopped Sam from busting my chops about cruelty to plastic bovines, or plastic animals in general for that matter."

"Hey I had to choose between fake evil cow and evil trucks." Sam pointed out "Which did you think was gonna win?" then she saw a poster "Oh my god I almost forgot, the Trinity of Doom is out this Friday! It's Femalien vs Terminatra vs Nightmerica, all of my favorite female movie monsters in one film!"

"So what then, it's a horror sci fi chick flick?" Leo touched both Tucker and Danny with one finger each and turned intangible, allowing the milk to fall right through them.

"It's not just a chick flick Leo, it's _the_ chick flick. The 3 biggest box office monsters battling it out in a big budget special effects bonanza! And since Danny promised us we'd all go tonight I bought the three of us tickets."

"Hold up." Danny cut in "The _three_ of us?"

"Yeah, you've been so busy with training and ghost fighting that we haven't been able to do anything in forever-"

"Sam you said the three of us, but there's four of us."

"Danny?" that was when Paulina came up to them, cutting Sam off before she could be given a chance to response "You never told me whether or not you were coming to my quinceanera on Friday." she handed him a flier.

"That's because I thought that you were joking when you invited me, and when you forgot to invite Tucker, and remembered not to invite Sam or Leo."

"Oh no silly, all four of you are invited." she handed them fliers as well, much to the joy of Tucker and the dismay of Sam and Leo.

"Really?"

"Really, I knew that you wouldn't come if I didn't invite those other three but I especially want you to be there."

"Me?"

"Of course, my papa is throwing the party at the country club and it's happening on the same night as a meteor shower. Besides I really want the ghost boy to be there, and since the ghost boy seems to show up wherever and whenever you do I figured that I had no choice but to invite you and your loser friends."

"Hey we're standing right here you know." Tucker pointed out.

"Yeah I know." and she left.

"The ghost boy? Oh he'll definitely be there Paulina, I promise!" Danny called.

"Danny, aren't you forgetting something?" Sam ground out "As in a certain movie the three of us are seeing on Friday with non refundable tickets?"

"Yeah, _three_ non refundable tickets, as in you conveniently forgot to get one for Leo didn't you?"

"Well- I-"

"Besides Sam, we never get invited to parties like this and we probably never will again, and if I don't go then Tucker doesn't get to go."

Sam's scowl returned full force.

"Pretty please with those dark licorice sprinkles with the black frosting that you like with those little gummy bats on top?"

"...Fine, I'll go too."

"Alright!" Tucker ran off to burn off his glee.

"Yeah I'll be there too, unless something should happen to Paulina and then the party ended up getting cancelled."

"Sam." Leo's tone had a sort of warning to it.

"Oh lay off, it's not like I would actually wish for that." and she walked of.

' _...Well she did say wish.'_ Leo looked back and saw the figures on the poster all glowing an ominous shade of pink "You know, sometimes I get the feeling that Sam doesn't like me very much."

"Don't take it personally, she doesn't really like Tucker very much either. That's just how she is, always has been." Danny waved him off "By the way, I'm gonna need to take Friday off from training."

"Hey it's cool man I get it, there's a surprise that I've been working on for you anyway. Oh, and something else for Tucker."

"For Tucker?"

"It's super high tech and I think it's pretty obvious that that's his jam."

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Lancer started lecturing about the upcoming meteor shower "Thousands of meteors will be visible in the skies of Amity Park this Friday, people tend to wish upon these falling stars without realizing that at the speed they're falling they could drill through your tiny skulls like they were wet toilet paper."

"Oh boy." Sam went back to doodling.

Paulina grinned "Papa says that the stars are falling on my birthday just for me, and I'm going to wish to meet that Ghost Boy and if one of those meteors falls towards me then the ghost boy will save me!"

"Wha-? Oh yeah." Dash snapped out of his stupor "You know what I'd wish for? Extra arms to catch more footballs, and to-"

"Rip off Spider Man like every other crossdresser in existence." Leo said dryly, only to easily duck under a punch attempt "You're never gonna learn are you tall blond and-" he paused when he noticed something "Danny."

"Yeah." Danny felt his Ghost Sense go off.

That was when Femalien dropped through the roof, its voice a menacing snarl "Paulina."

"War of the Worlds Creature, get away from my youthful charges!" Lancer attacked Femalien with a fire extinguisher, only to earn her ire "Well I tried, now run!" and he pulled the fire alarm, signalling for everyone to run.

Leo transformed, with Danny following his lead "Let's go!" and they both disappeared.

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' _Run run run!'_ Paulina was running away from Femalien at full speed.

"Get down!" Danny grabbed Femalien and quickly disappeared through the floor.

"Ghost Boy wait, I have an invite for you!"

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"Paulina!" Femalien tail whacked Danny into a wall and fired some rockets from a launcher on her wrist.

"Woah!" Danny gracefully dodged all of them, but received a shallow cut on his arm, so he cupped his hands together "A new move I created myself, get a load of my very own **Pyro Cannon!"** he fired a two handed blast of green fire, burning Femalien across her front and slamming her through a wall "Alright girly green and gruesome, what do you want? Who sent you?"

"Saaaam…" then she disappeared.

"Sam?"

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Tucker blinked "It said Sam?"

Danny shook his head "No it sounded a lot more creepy than that, but I think you guys can get the point."

Sam seemed rather offended by this "You can't really blame me for this can you?"

"Well it's clearly got something to do with you but you don't have to worry, I saved Paulina without Leo having to get involved so you don't have to apologize."

"Good, cause I'm not gonna."

"You just have to wear this Specter Deflector and stay out of the way until this whole thing blows over."

"What?!"

"Sam there's something seriously weird going on and it clearly has something to do with you, it's probably better for all of us if you just lay low until everything calms down-" Leo was cut off by his Ghost Sense going off.

Danny's head whipped around when he heard a scream "Paulina again?"

"Stand back Danny, I've got this one. It's phantom time! Danny just let me handle this one, I've got a bad feeling that I know who's behind this." and Leo promptly flew off.

"Dammit, he forgot the sword! I'm going ghost!" Danny transformed and grabbed the Spirit Sword, then turned to Sam "Stay here, let me handle this." and he flew off.

"Oh I will I promise, the same way you kept your promise about the three of us going to the movies on Friday!" and she stomped after him.

"...Alright then, more for me I guess." and then Tucker proceeded to hog the bag of chips.

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"Paulina!" this time it was Terminatra chasing after Paulina down the street, firing a blast that nearly scorched her dress.

"Hey watch it, I just got this back from the cleaners!" she drove faster.

Terminatra activated the jetpack in her back and shot forward like a rocket.

Paulina stopped "This is like the worst birthday week ever!"

That was when Leo appeared in his ghost form ' _Curse my good heart._ Let's see if we can change that a little bit shall we?"

"And now it's not!"

"Hang on." Leo attempted to hit Terminatra with a blast of lightning.

Terminatra formed a hole in her stomach for the lightning blast to harmlessly pass through and quickly morphed her body into a net.

"Oh crap."

"Wait a second." Paulina held out a flier "Just let me give you this, if I invite you and the other ghost boy then I can uninvite Danny Fenton and his loser friends."

"Wait what?"

"Paulina!" Terminatra quickly wrapped Leo in her net and electrocuted him, then threw him into the fountain.

Leo reverted back to his base form against his will ' _Ow…'_

"Leave him alone! Leo, catch!" Danny flew onto the scene and threw the Spirit Sword.

Leo caught it and cut Terminatra diagonally down the middle "Team Phantom 2."

"Crazy sci fi bitches 0."

"Well said."

"Sam…" Terminatra then evaporated and disappeared.

"Nice save."

Danny shrugged "What can I say, it all comes from natural talent."

"Don't push it."

"Sorry."

"Hey." then Sam rode up on her scooter "You guys alright?"

"Thanks but we're fine, though we probably would be even more so if it weren't for you in the first place."

"Excuse me? I come here to save your ungrateful ass and you're giving me grief?"

"Welcome to my world remember? _We should make the menu recyclo vegetarian. We should let the gorilla out. We should exclude the new guy from a horror movie night out of pure spite._ What the hell was that last one about anyway?"

"Anything else you wanna blame me for? World hunger, the ice age, puberty?"

"Well to be fair that last one is-" Leo was promptly cut off.

"Shut up Hunter, you have no place in this!"

"Don't talk to him like that!" Danny barked.

"Oh please, this new guy shows up with the cushiest life in the world and suddenly he's your new best friend. It's either your family or this guy now and it's like me and Tucker don't even exist anymore-"

"Shut up!" his tone caught her by surprise "What the hell gives you the right to assume that you know anything about him huh? His life has been way harder than anything you could've imagined! How about the fact that he only first discovered his ghost powers after his own portal accident when his parents died in a car accident almost 2 years ago and his powers are the only reason he and his brother survived! How about the fact that he moved here because he and his brother had no more attachments to California and moved here to Amity Park so they could start fresh! How about that he's half ghost like me and understands the emotional torment I feel from carrying this secret every single day! He understands me and he understands how I want to get stronger so I can protect you guys and the other people I care about! I never thought I would say this, but you're being just as shallow as Paulina!"

"What?! Well you know what Danny, I swear that there are some days that I wish I'd never even met you!" and she stormed off.

"Well for once I feel the same!" he transformed and blasted off into the skies.

"...I wish neither of you had ever said that." Leo sat down on the edge of the fountain and let out a sigh ' _Way to go Hunter, you just drove apart your protegee and his future girlfriend. What a way to screw up a Wednesday.'_ then he felt his Ghost Sense go off ' _Oh great, now we're doing this.'_ and he promptly transformed.

Then Desiree appeared from the fountain and let out a triumphant laugh "At last!"

"I figured you were gonna show yourself sooner or later Desiree, you know you look kind of different."

"More powerful? Why yes I am, the more wishes I grant the more powerful I become!"

"Yeah, you kind of gave me that whole spiel a year and a half ago."

"Oh and only days away from the fabled meteor shower when anybody and everybody will be making wishes!" she wrapped Leo in her tail.

Leo slammed his hands down on her tail and unleashed two blasts of electricity, causing her to cry out in pain and be thrown back in mid air.

"You little-"

"I'm in a bad mood right now Desiree, just tell me what you want so we can get this over with already."

"What I want is you and that other ghost boy out of the way by Friday night. But it's not about what I want, it's about what your two little friends want and they just wished that they had never met each other!"

"And I wished that they had never made that wish, thus making it null and void bitch."

"...Dammit!"

"And now I wish that you wouldn't bother me or any of my friends or family and would stay away until Friday night when you plan to make your move."

"Son of a-" then she disappeared.

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Danny slammed his head against the kitchen table ' _Oh god what did I do?'_

"Hey."

Danny looked up and saw Jazz sit down next to him "Hey, listen Jazz I'm really not in the mood to talk right now."

"Come on, tell your big sister what's going on."

"...You're not gonna leave me alone until I tell you are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine." so he went into an extremely edited version of the day's events, leaving out the ghost stuff but adding in as many of the main details as he could.

"So you lashed out at Sam because she insulted Leo and basically denounced her as your friend?"

"Pretty much yeah, but I didn't have the guts to go after her."

"Just give it a little bit of time, she'll cool down and this will all blow over."

"You think so?"

"I know so. You and Sam have been best friends for as long as I can remember, it's gonna take more than something like this to break you guys up." and she walked off.

' _I just hope you're right.'_

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Leo was in his home's ghost lab and pressed a button on the high tech suit in front of him, causing it to light up "Alright, now it's fully powered up."

"How long have you been working on this in secret again?" asked Raphael.

"About 6 months or so, ever since the thing in Wisconsin. Anyway I'm telling you Raph, whoever wears this new Ecto Armor will be able to beat back almost any ghost and any ghosts who use it will have their powers multiplied 20 fold."

"Did you work out the interface?"

"That was the first thing I did, the last thing I need is a high tech battle suit that ends up killing the guy that wears it like in Iron Man 2." then he heard a knock on the door "I'll answer it, just make sure I didn't miss anything alright?" and he phased through the ceiling.

"Fine by me, but who the hell would be here at 9:00 at night on a Wednesday?"

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Leo opened the door and got a surprise "Oh hey."

Tucker was standing there "Hey, how's it going?"

"Just working on something with my brother, what brings you here so late at night?"

"Well… I heard about what happened with you and Danny and Sam at the park today."

"Oh yeah, that. Listen Tucker I never meant to drive any kind of wedge between Danny and the two of you, he asked me to train him and teach him what I knew about using his ghost powers and I agreed."

"Hey it's cool man I get it, the way I see it they both just kind of overreacted. I personally think it's awesome what you're doing."

"Thanks, that really means a lot. Hey do you wanna see what I'm working on?"

"Sure why not."

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So Leo pulled Tucker down into the lab using his intangibility "And here we are."

"My stomach feels kind of funny-" then Tucker saw the suit and almost immediately began drooling over the sight of it "It… It's so beautiful…"

"Tucker Foley, how would you like to be the proud pilot of the Mark I Hunter brand combat armor?"

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" he hugged the suit.

"So you like it?"

"Like it? Dude I love it! I can really keep this?"

"As long as you agree to test it out for me, I need someone to try it out and make sure everything is working the way it's supposed to."

"So I have to be your guinea pig but I get to keep the awesome high tech suit?"

"Yep."

"Okay, now how do I put this thing on?"

"Allow me." Leo pushed a red button on the suit's wrist, causing it to compact itself into a wrist watch "Just put this on and press the red button, and the suit will activate."

"Alright." Tucker pressed the button, and within 30 seconds he was encased in the suit.

"So how does it feel?"

"It feels awesome, now the Iron Tuck is in the house!"

"Well technically it's not made of armor, it's a combination of titanium and a metal found in the Ghost Zone called Ecto-tanium."

"Awesome, now let's get to testing."

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The next day of school came.

Tucker was telling Danny about Leo and the suit "I'm telling you man this thing is amazing, no wonder you love to just fly around at night."

Danny sighed "Well at least you get how Leo's helping."

"Look just give it time, you and Sam will make up."

"I don't know man, this fight was a bad one."

"It couldn't have-"

"Tucker I said that she was being as shallow as Paulina."

"...Yeah you're screwed."

"Paulina…" a voice snarled.

"Hold on." Danny looked and saw Nightmerica carving through the wall with her sights being set on Paulina, earning a scream of terror "So Tuck, you want me to handle this or-"

"The hell I do!" Tucker pressed the button and activated the suit "Stand back people, Iron Tuck is here to save the day!" he held out his hands and fired Ecto Repulsor blasts from the gauntlets on each arm, hitting Nightmerica dead on and sending her flying into a wall.

"Sam…" then she disappeared.

"And that be how we do."

That was when Leo came up to him "Far be it for me to deny credit where credit is due Tuck, that was pretty impressive."

"That's my mad skills talking."

"Don't push it. Anyway Danny stop by my place later, I've been working on something I think you're gonna like."

"What exactly?" asked Danny.

"Something you'll find awesome."

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Sunset was upon them.

Danny found himself faced with a gigantic laser "So how is this supposed to work again?"

"First I need you to generate fire in both hands." Leo told him.

Danny did so.

Leo then stuck a black emblem that looked like a D on his chest "There we go."

"What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Something that looks awesome, anyway the point here is that we're gonna combine your fire powers with a blast of ectotricity to essentially weld that emblem onto your suit."

"Is this gonna be painful?"

"Excruciatingly painful. Okay, now!" he pressed the button, causing a blast of electric ectoplasm to hit Danny square in the chest, causing him to scream in pain until the process subsided after a few moments.

When it did subside, Danny looked in the mirror and found the emblem now embedded into his suit like a logo "Awesome…" then he fell to one knee.

"Give it a few minutes, you'll be fine."

"And then what?"

"And then we do the same thing to be." he held up a P emblem.

"So I get to blast you?"

"Yep."

"...I'm going to enjoy this."

"I can imagine you would."

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Danny leaned over to Leo during Astronomy "So what now?"

"Well right now the only thing we can do is wait for Desiree to make her move, then we can send her back to the Ghost Zone like this never happened."

"Alright students." Lancer raised his voice "Be sure to remember the meteor shower tonight, don't forget to watch and wear a helmet. Something like this is a once in a lifetime experience."

"That's her plan, to wait until the meteor shower tonight and grant all of those wishes. We can't let her grant those wishes, if she does then she may end up becoming too powerful for even the three of us combined to defeat."

"You've got a plan?"

"Yep, and if everything goes according to this plan then everything should come full circle so that this might as well have never happened."

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Nightfall came.

Leo watched the quinceanera get underway through a pair of binoculars from a hill overlooking the country club "Wow, she seems almost human. Note to self, slam your head into a wall hard enough to forget that."

"Hey check it out." Tucker pointed upwards "A falling star."

"Alright guys, just wait until she shows up and remember not to make any wishes no matter what. For the record Tucker, I'm looking at you."

"Fine, how about this. I wish Desiree would appear right in front of us." he then activated his Iron Tuck suit "How's that?"

"That's actually a great idea, no wonder you're the book smart one out of Danny's three."

That was when Desiree appeared before them, growing larger with each passing second "Yes that's right fools, just keep wishing!"

"Fine then." Leo stepped forward "I wish that Danny and Sam never had that stupid fight from yesterday, and that you would return to the Ghost Zone never to terrorize people from the land of the living again. Oh, and that any potential marks from the branding from putting the logo on his chest would disappear!"

"That was branding, you lying prick!" Danny barked.

"Hey you never asked if it was branding, so technically it's not lying."

"What? No! So you have wished it, so shall it be!" and with that, Desiree disappeared.

"Well that was a lot more hectic than it should've been."

"Tell me about it." Danny sat down on the hill and looked down at the party "Weren't we invited to that party?"

"Yeah, and now that Desiree is out of the picture for good Paulina the shallow mall rat is kind of expecting a visit from the ghost boys."

"Well one of them at least."

"Well then you should probably keep your promise."

"Yeah, I probably should." he whipped out his cell phone "Hey Sam? Yeah it's me. Sorry, I got a little bit held up tonight. I'll pick you up for the movie in about 15 minutes alright? Okay see you then." then he turned to the others "Hey would you guys mind making yourself scarce for tonight? I feel like I owe this to her."

"Hey it's cool man we get it, actually I was gonna ask Tucker to join me in working on my next Mark I suit of armor."

"Thanks." and he flew off.

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 **(Blues Brothers)**

Leo met Danny outside of his locker "Hey."

"Hey." Danny took out a pen and began signing up for something.

"Astronomy club?"

"Nope, talent show. I'm sick and tired of living under Dash's boot during the month before and the month after, it's about time someone knocks him off his high horse."

"I've never seen this side of you before."

"This is the side of me that's reached its limit with Dash and his crap."

"Well my crap is gonna stomp your ass into the ground Fenton." Dash stomped up to him with a bunch of jocks.

"Well forget it Dash, I'm done being the dirt beneath your feet. My friends and I are gonna take the crown after your 7 year win streak, and it's gonna be one sweet victory."

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Danny was later discussing with Leo, Tucker and Sam in his room "Alright, now what's our song gonna be?"

"Dude it was your idea to get Ass Kickers of Amity back together." Tucker pointed out "You pick the song."

"...Yeah I got nothing."

"I think I've got one." Leo cut in.

"Is it good?"

"It's gonna guarantee you one Sweet Victory."

"...What?"

"Sweet Victory by Arrowsmith." he then played Sweet Victory on his phone.

"Yeah I think we've got a winner. Alright it's official, Ass Kickers of Amity is back and the 4 of us are gonna trounce Dash for a long time to come!"

"Yeah, four of us." but secretly Leo was rather worried.

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The group was rehearsing during lunch.

"...The winner takes all!" yeah, it turns out Danny was a good singer, and with Tucker on the saxophone and Sam on the guitar, they were quite the skilled group.

"Nice song Fenton." Dash came up to them.

"Maybe, what's it to you Baxter?"

"Is that what you're singing in the talent show?"

"Maybe, what's it to you?"

"It doesn't matter, we're gonna walk all over you losers."

"You know you've got a lot of confidence for a guy who can't even spell his own name."

"You wanna know why I've got confidence? Check it."

"Check what?"

"I was about to snap." so Dash snapped his fingers and summoned 4 other jocks "Alright, let's do this. 5, 6, 7, 8." they started singing the first verse of Kokomo "Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty momma, Key Largo, Montego, baby why don't we go down to Kokomo, we'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow. That's where we wanna go, way to Kokomo." they were met with cheers "See you at the talent show Fenton." and they smugly walked off.

"...Oh damn."

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They later moved this discussion to Leo's home.

"You wouldn't think a dumbass jock would be able to sing like that." Leo noted "Still though they're good, really good. At this point they can't beat the three of you."

"Yeah no kidding, we've gotta rehearse like- Wait, the three of us?"

"Hey I never said that I was gonna be performing with you guys."

"Why the hell not? We need you up there if we're gonna win."

"...I can't. Look I've never told anyone this, but I've got pants crapping levels of stage fright."

"Are you serious?" Sam's head snapped towards him "You, the guy who has openly claimed not to care what anybody in the entire world thinks of him, have stage fright?"

"It was back when I was 8, I got up on stage during a piano recital but I ended up cracking under the pressure and I just started twitching."

"Like in that one episode of Drake and Josh?" Danny guessed.

"Exactly."

"...Keeping that in mind I think I have one thing that could cheer you up from this little funk you're in."

"Is it what I think it is?"

"Blues Brothers routine just like in Drake and Josh."

"Oh hell yeah!"

"Sam, hit it!"

"Hitting it." Sam started playing on the guitar.

"Coming to ya, on a dusty road!"

Leo was quick to get into it "Good lovin, I've got a truck load!"

"And when you get it, you got something!"

"So don't worry, cause I'm coming!"

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Soon enough, the night of the talent show arrived.

Very few of acts were noteworthy, and only with the last two.

Lancer went up after an annoying trombone performance "Alright then, now for our next act, please put your hands together for the Amity Raven Society!"

Then Dash and his gang went up and started singing a very familiar song "The winner takes all… It's the thrill of one more kill… the last one to fall… will never sacrifice their will…"

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Danny looked on in a rage from the backstage "That son of a mother f*cker!"

"Dude they stole our song!" Tucker pointed out the obvious.

"You think?"

"Hey guys." Leo phased onto backstage "I'm guessing you noticed?"

"That the bastard stole the song that we were gonna do? Yeah, I noticed."

"So what the hell are you gonna do?"

"Well we're gonna have to sing something else."

"You got anything in mind?"

"...Actually yeah I do, something awesome. I need my sister, I'll be right back." and he rushed off.

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Jazz came back after a few minutes with two shopping bags "Alright, here you go."

"Thanks. Leo!" Danny pulled out of his seat.

"What exactly is your plan?" asked Leo.

"The two of us."

"What?"

"We're doing the Blues Brothers together."

"Excuse me?"

"We've got Star on the keyboard, Sam on the guitar and Tucker and Kwan on the sax. You're gonna sing Soul Man with me in a duet."

"What the hell do you think this is man, twitcha palooza? Danny I told you exactly what happens when I get up in front of people."

"Yeah you did and it's gonna keep happening if you don't get over it now."

"Danny I can't."

"Do you want me to lose?"

"No of course not."

"You're my friend and friends help each other."

"Danny I'm not going up there just so I can make an ass out of myself, end of discussion."

"...Fine, but without you up there we're gonna lose." and he walked off.

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10 minutes passed.

Lancer made the call "And now for our final act of the evening, ladies and gentlemen please give a round of applause for the Asskickers of Amity!"

That was when Danny came up dressed as one of the Blues Brothers, with Sam and the others all behind him on their instruments "Thank you, we'll be doing a tribute to the Blues Brothers, Sam and Dave. 1, 2, 3, 4!" the instrumental part started.

Leo went up to the side of the stage dressed in the costume "Hey!"

"Hey man, so you're doing it?"

"Yeah. You were right, friends help friends and I of all people should know that."

"Well get up here."

"Just get started and I'll be there in a second."

"Right." and he started singing "Coming to you, on a dusty road!"

"Good loving, I've got a truck load!" Leo back flipped onto the stage.

"And when you get it, you got something!"

"So don't worry, cause I'm coming!"

"I'm a soul man!" cue the sax in the background.

"I'm a soul man!" cue the guitar in the background.

"I'm a soul man!" cue sax.

"I'm a soul man!" then Leo started dancing during Leo's solo.

"I got what I got, the hard way! And I'll make it better, each and every day!  
"So honey, now don't you fret! Cause you ain't seen, no nothing yet!"

"I'm a soul man!" sax.

"I'm a soul man!" guitar.

"I'm a soul man!" sax mixed with the audience going along with the song.

"I'm a soul man!" Leo went stiff.

Danny imitated wrapping him in a rope "Well grab a rope, and I'll pull you in!"

"Give you hope!"

"And be your only boyfriend!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!" cue the guitar solo.

Leo pulled out a harmonica to do a brief solo.

Danny started dancing wildly to the harmonica solo before they both started singing a duet for the last verse, with the audience now singing along "I'm a soul man! I'm a soul man! You're a soul man! I'm a soul man! I'm a soul man!" they ended it by blackflipping across the stage from opposite directions, earning roaring cheers from the audience.

Even Lancer was applauding as he came up onto the stage "Well I think that performance touched all of your souls. Get it?" the applause stopped instantly "Oh forget it, the winner is Asskickers of Amity!" he presented Danny with the trophy as another thunderous applause filled the room.

"Thank you Casper High!" then Danny turned his attention to Leo "And thank my new friend, Leo Hunter!"

"I should be thanking you actually." Leo told him "I guess my twitching days are over thanks to you."

"And we just climbed two steps on the social ladder."

"Only one thing to do now."

"Crowd surfing?"

"Crowd surfing."

"Crowd surfing!" Danny leapt out to surf the crowd, only to hit the ground face first "Ow…"

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 **(Pirate Radio)**

A crystal clear night.

Danny looked out his telescope from atop the roof of the Fenton Works "Clear skies, no moon or clouds, that makes this a perfect night for stargazing."

"More like star drooling." Leo scowled at the radio "This music is putting me to sleep, and Sam and Tucker both conked out about half an hour ago."

"Well then change it to something else."

"I tried, it's on every station-" Leo was cut off by the ground shaking, followed by a gigantic ghost pirate ship appearing from the ground "...Well that's a new one."

"Ghost pirates. Neat."

"You know what else is neat? It's phantom time!" Leo transformed.

"I'm going ghost!" Danny transformed and got into a martial arts stance ' _Note to self, thank my mom for teaching me those moves.'_

That was when the young pirate captain Youngblood got their attention "Avast ye- Oh crap, what's the word?"

"Scurvy dogs." the skeleton bird squawked.

"Oh yeah right. Avast ye scurvy dogs, prepare to be boarded by Captain Youngblood and his skeleton crew!"

Leo let out a groan of exasperation as he drew his Spirit Sword "Hey isn't it past your bedtime kid?"

"Bedtime this sucker!" he fired an Ecto Ray slingshot "Don't call me kid, I'm mature beyond me years!"

"Like I haven't heard that before." Leo sliced the blast in half, unintentionally causing one of the halves to hit Danny "Oh crap, sorry dude!"

"Yeah thanks for that." Danny said dryly, only to look to his left "Dammit, they just got my dad's ghost shield generator!"

Youngblood grinned triumphantly "Fall back me hearties, we've got uh- What's the word?"

"Booty." the parrot squawked.

"You said booty, that's awesome."

"Dammit get back here you little runt!" Danny charged forward.

Youngblood fired a cannonball from his peg leg, hitting Danny and sending him crashing down onto the roof, then took off with his ship, taking the ghost shield generator with him.

"Son of a bitch." Danny transformed back.

"Nice work matey." Leo said dryly "You just got your booty handed to you by the brat of Blackbeard."

"Hey considering that he just snatched my dad's ghost shield generator you think you could lay off the criticism and be a little more sympathetic?"

"Hey I'm not putting you down I'm giving you constructive criticism, there's a huge difference you know. Anyway, this little experience just gave me a great idea as to what we're gonna do for tomorrow's training."

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The next day came.

Leo noticed Danny looking pissed off "Okay aside from you not being a morning person, what's got you so pissy today?"

Danny let out a groan "It's that horrible new age vapor drone crap that's playing on every single station, my parents have been spacing out to it all morning. It's so bad that the ghost shield is gone and it barely registers a blip on their parental ghost hunting radar, no matter how much me or Jazz try to reason with them. Has Raphael been acting flaky too?"

"Well he left for Wisconsin to do some business with Vlad about 2 days ago, he should be back on Thursday. Still though, the worst part of this whole thing is that I can't get it outta my head!"

"...Wait, you hear it too?"

"Oh god it's everywhere- Hey look, DJ auditions."

"Who the hell would want us as DJ's?"

"Hey we got a pretty decent boost in popularity after we performed Soul Man during the talent show last month, I think people would at least be willing to give it a shot."

As it turns out, Lancer was the one broadcasting the new music "Since we announced our new school radio station an anonymous donor has been kind enough to provide us with these promotional and incredibly soothing vinyl albums."

"Vinal? For the love of god Lancer, this isn't the stone age."

"Of course you kids should feel free to, as you might say, bust out your own freaky beats! As long as they're not too freaky or too beaty anyway."

"Dibs!" Leo burst through to the DJ room "Hey where do I sign up to bring back decent music to this school?"

Dash scowled "Hunter a DJ? Yeah right, who the hell would ever wanna listen to you?"

"People who know that my father was one of the most respected ghost hunters in the world, that I'm training to follow in his footsteps, and that I happen to be a 6th degree black belt." note that he was broadcasting this "Did you know any of that Baxter? No? I didn't think so, now sit your ass down and shut your trap." then he turned back to the people "Alright people, what do we want?"

"Music better than the crap they're already playing!" Danny called.

"You said it Fenton, when do we want it?"

"Now!" that was when Youngblood and his pirates showed up, scaring almost everybody away.

"Being in a school full of cowards does occasionally have its advantages." Leo dove behind the bleachers and transformed, with Danny following his lead.

"Avast ye bilge rats! Bilge rats is the right word isn't it?" he received a nod "Okay good, I wasn't sure. Our plunder lies afore!" they phased through the floor.

"Come on!" Leo and Danny phased through the floor and found them stealing treadmills from the weight room "As much as I hate to break this to you guys, you can't really build any kind of muscle tone without having any actual muscle."

The pirates all charged.

"I've got this one!" Danny dodged one's attacks and ripped his arms off, and used them to hit him into several others, then turned his attention to Youngblood "And now we find ourselves in another playdate with Captain Kid."

"Playdate this!" Youngblood fired a barrage of hooks, pinning Danny to the wall, then turned to his crew "Get the stuff and let's go!" and he took off, with the crew following carrying the stolen equipment.

"Son of a-" Leo followed through the roof, only to see that he had lost them "Well that's just perfect, another game of hide and seek that nobody wants to play."

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School ended.

Leo was walking with Danny, Tucker and Sam "Well this is a fine shit storm we're in the middle of."

"Do you have any idea what ghost pirates would want with exercise equipment?" asked Danny.

"Well the kinetic energy generated from exercising on a treadmill could potentially be used as some kind of power source, but aside from that I can't help but think that it has something to do with this horrible new music."

"Makes sense I guess."

"Well it's not like we can just let this stand." Sam pointed out "We have to counteract it somehow, send some real music out into the airwaves."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?"

"I know, we could start our very own radio station."

Danny just shot her a dull look "And where exactly do you plan on getting the equipment to do that?"

Sam pointed up to the Op Center "There."

"...You're kidding right?"

"Try me."

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Danny rushed into the kitchen "Mom, dad, I really wanna use the Emergency Op Center to start my own radio station."

"They're not here." Jazz told him dryly without looking up from her book.

"So do I take that as a yes?"

"Well there's a note on the table."

Danny picked up said note " _Your mother and I are on a weekend getaway fun cruise, we're sure you will take charge and act responsibly. Love, Mom and Dad._ M. Bersback Cruise Lines? You guys know what this means right guys?"

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Sam kicked open the door to the Op Center "Alright, they left it open for us!"

Danny was more focused on the important stuff "The music, the ghost pirates, my parents and now this cruise ship? Something weird is going on and we need to get to the bottom of it."

"So your family is taking a cruise, what's the worst that could happen?"

"A lot of stuff." Leo said dryly "But we're not dealing with any of it until we finish this next stage in his training. Which reminds me." he then pulled Danny through the floor.

"Well this oughta be good."

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Danny wasn't exactly thrilled when he found out about Leo's plan "Why exactly are we using my mom's new virtual training simulator to make it look like we're in a boxing match? I thought we were gonna be training my ghost powers."

"That's exactly the problem." Leo told him in a lecturing sort of tone "After that first fight with Youngblood last night I realized something very important, that being that you don't know how to fight."

"What? There's about 20 ghosts out there that would beg to differ."

"And 14 of them have fought me before you. From what I've observed of you so far your style of fighting is either to tackle, blast, punch or taunt. You've been fighting like that for as long as I've known you, if I would have to guess then I would have to say that you've never been in an actual fight in your entire life."

"What about every single day with Dash?"

"You either just let him shove you into lockers, overshadow him or just pin it on Tucker. That's not real fighting, that's just cowering in a bunch of different ways."

"Well I-"

"Punch me."

"What? I'm not going to-"

"Do it."

"...Fine." so he did.

Leo ducked and sent him crashing to the ground with an uppercut.

"Ow… What just happened?"

"Why don't we give that another shot?" Leo helped him up and beckoned him with a single finger.

Danny aimed another punch, only to be sent to the ground a second time.

"Again."

The process repeated itself several times until Danny finally gave up "This is stupid, with my ghost powers I would've been able to take you down faster than you could blink."

"You're not always going to be able to rely on your ghost powers in battle Danny, you have to be able to defend yourself in your human form and be ready for anything."

"That's why I asked you to teach me how to use my ghost powers more efficiently, so that I am prepared for whatever is coming. I'll know exactly what to be ready for and how I can be ready for it. Besides, isn't that why you made those Iron Man ghost hunter suits?"

"For guys who don't have ghost powers, as in any of our friends that aren't us. Hell I'm even working on a brawling style combat suit just for Kwan."

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The next day of school came.

Leo got some surprising news "Wait a second, so your parents bailed on you too?"

Sam grinned "Yep, my parents are gone. And just because I like saying it that much I'll say it again, my parents are gone!"

"It's like this cruise is attracting every single adult in town."

"Kind of weird though." Danny commented "You'd think this would affect my sister too, seeing how she thinks she's an adult."

"She thinks she is but that doesn't mean she is."

"True."

Sam shrugged "Just think of it as the hand of fate pushing the PARTY on the air."

"Party, what party?"

"This PARTY." Sam held out a flier "Providing Alternative Radio To You. P-A-R-T-Y! We don't need no alibi!"

Leo raised an eyebrow "You already designed a logo?"

"And I even got our first sponsor." she held up a bag of Nasty Burgers "That and all the Nasty Burgers we can eat."

"This I can deal with." he swiped a burger.

"Come on guys this is serious." Danny put the flier into the trash can "There's something suspicious about this cruise."

"Yeah but there's free burgers in it."

"Oh come on man, you're supposed to be the responsible one. I can't focus on the PARTY with my parents out of town." and he walked off.

"I can." Sam followed him, with Leo doing the same.

After they left, Dash found the flier and quickly misinterpreted the meaning "Alright, party at Fenton's! Crash and trash!"

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Nightfall came.

Danny made his way to the docks and found the ship still in port "Still in port, good thing I'm not too late. I wonder why Leo wanted me to go on my own." he charged towards the ship, only to hit some kind of force field "What the- Why can't I get aboard? It's like this ship has some kind of… ghost shield, duh."

"Ye catch on quick for a land lover."

Danny looked back and saw Youngblood and his crew "Oh great, you."

"Aye!"

"It's lubber." the parrot squawked.

"Really, it's lubber? That makes no sense- You know what nevermind, attack!" he sent his pirates forward.

Danny easily outmaneuvered their attacks and grabbed Youngblood by the coat "Alright peewee, start talking. Tell me what you want with all of these people or I'll- I'll spank you or something."

"I'd lub to see you try!" he then fired his eye beams, hitting Danny square in the face and pushing him back.

"You little-" that was when Danny noticed the cruise ship turn into the pirate ship he had seen earlier "What the-?"

"Argh, there's another radio station jamming our transmission! Weigh anchor and set sail, smartly there swallies!"

Danny looked down and saw the other pirates loading the cannon "Well that's just perfect, a snot nosed punk can get others to follow orders but I'm the only one who's willing to listen to Leo?"

"You've just gotta know the right words. Like this, watch. Fire!" they fired the cannons.

Danny dodged the first two but the second one sent him crashing down onto the dock below, and by the time he regained his awareness the ship was gone "Well one thing's for sure, it's gonna be awfully quiet at my house tonight."

He was wrong.

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When Danny got home he found a party in full swing right in his living room "Not getting invited to a party is one thing, but not getting invited to a party at my own house?!" he unplugged the stereo, but found it still going "What the- Where's that music coming from?"

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Yeah, it turns out that Sam was the one playing it up in the Op Center "You're listening to the PARTY, fiercely independent radio that is 100% free of corporate influence."

"Except this." Leo munched on a burger "Brought to you by Nasty Burger, and don't forget that nasty is only one letter away from tasty."

"Wait!" that was when Danny burst into the Op Center "You guys have to stop the broadcast, the party downstairs is getting out of control. I already had to stop them from using Jazz as a human pinata."

"There's a party downstairs?"

"How the hell could you not know?"

"Danny we've been kind of busy up here with the premiere broadcast." Sam pulled out a vapor drone promo disc.

"You took a vapor drone promo disc?"

"Oh yeah, they make the best scratch fodder." she started scratching.

That was when Leo noticed something "Wait a second, I think I hear something. Play that backwards again, but slowly." so she did, and he heard the message.

" _Leave your kids, come to the cruise. Leave your kids, come to the cruise."_

"So that's it."

"What, subliminal advertising?" asked Danny.

"More like using music for some form of mind control, so it's her after all."

"You know who we're dealing with?"

"Yeah, one of the ghosts I fought back when I still lived in California."

"Danny!" that was when a freaked out looking Jazz burst into the Op Center "The party down there is going insane, they tied up Kwan and now they're gonna use him as a human pinata-" she was cut off by the ground shaking.

"They're here."

Then the pirate ship appeared, with Ember on board "That's right puffins, Ember's back and she's ready to rock!" she fired a power chord, shaking the entire house.

Leo checked out the brochure "M. Bersback, Ember's back. That's not a clue, that's a gigantic billboard. We've really gotta start paying attention to these things." he grabbed a grappling hook out of his bag and ran out, then hooked it onto the ship and pulled himself up onto the deck "So what's the deal Ember, is your music career going so poorly that you had to pick up a job babysitting on the sidelines?"

"Well I guess you could say that me and him share the same opinion of adults, as in we totally hate them! So Youngblood helps me haul away the over 30 so I can do my thing, that being take over the world and stuff, and I provide him with a power source for his fleet of ships. The only problem is that your radio station is jamming my frequency and I can't hypnotize any more of the adults in this town."

"Is that so?"

"But not for long. Attack!" Youngblood bellow, and his pirate crew fired their cannons, hitting Leo dead on and sending him crashing through the window of the Op Center.

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"Quick, activate the defense system!" Danny barked.

"How do I do that exactly?" asked Sam.

"I don't know, just start pressing buttons!"

She did, creating a bunch of different things up top, only to stop when the ship crashed into the Op Center.

"Not working, not working!"

"Wait hold on a second!" getting an idea, Leo scratched the disc, sending out a sound wave that pushed back the ship.

"Dammit Leo, what did you do?"

"Struck a blow for independent radio." he gave Sam a high five.

"Well don't just stand there man, throw it into heavy rotation!" by this point Jazz was getting really hyped.

Leo did just that, sending out another sound wave that sent the pirate ship flying away "Done and done."

"So what happens now?" asked Danny.

"Well since Ember can't broadcast her music to lure in any more adults they're probably just gonna bring them in the old fashioned way, that being the way pirates do." he pointed to where they were abducting random adults, then looked down to where everyone from the party was fighting amongst themselves "Well that just makes things even more violent."

"And we've still gotta find a way to get our parents back."

"And now exactly do you plan to do that? Using your you know what?"

"...You know Leo, I think I get what you were trying to tell me during training yesterday. I can't always rely on the exact same thing. You got a megaphone with you?"

"Here." he handed it to him.

"Thanks." so he called out to the partiers and A Listers downstairs "Listen up people, if you wanna get your parents back then I'm gonna need you to follow my lead."

Dash let out a loud scoff "Give us one good reason why the hell we should follow you of all people Fen-Toad!"

"Yeah you're right Dash, let's follow the _other_ kid who comes from a family of ghost hunters and knows how to work all their gear."

"...Bite me."

"There's nothing to bite. Any other takers? Alright good, now who's with me?" he received several cheers.

Leo nodded in approval "Nice work, how exactly did you come up with that?"

"You've just gotta know the right words."

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With that in mind, Danny led everyone inside "Alright guys, here's the plan. Paulina you're good with makeup, I need you to disguise Tucker as an adult so he can get aboard the pirate ship and disable it from within."

Paulina saluted him "Aye aye captain, but you still have no shot with me."

"Yeah I figured. Sam you keep scratching, it's our only weapon against that ghost shield. Jazz you put the house back together, the last thing I need is to get grounded for throwing a party I wasn't even invited to. Kwan I'm putting you and Star on defense, you two protect Sam and keep her on air no matter what it takes." he started handing out weapons "Dash you're with me and Leo on offense, the three of us are going to spring the adults from the pirate ship."

Dash grinned "So I get to hit people?"

"Oh yeah you do."

He grabbed Danny by the shirt.

"Not me you idiot!"

"Sorry, old habits die hard."

"...I'll remember that." Danny finished passing out weapons and jumpsuits, while he took the front alongside Leo "Alright people, let's get moving!"

Everyone cheered.

"It feels good to be the leader."

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Leo was waiting for the signal from atop the Op Center, and decided to strike up a short conversation in the meantime "So anyway Danny, I came up with an awesome idea for your next lesson in training."

"What exactly did you have in mind?" asked Danny.

"You ever watch anime like One Piece, Bleach or Naruto?"

"No."

"Well then we'll do that first."

"Aren't they all hundreds of episodes?"

"Hence the joys of shortened clips on YouTube- Oh shit, they just got Tucker!" so he spoke into his headset "The fish has swallowed the bait. I repeat, the fish has swallowed the bait. You hearing me Sam?"

" _Loud and clear Leo, but how do we get our offense up to the pirate ship?"_

"This isn't my house, how am I supposed to know? Danny, what say you?"

Danny thought for a moment "I just have to think like a Fenton at a time like this, now if I were my dad then where would I put the secret control panel for the Op Center?"

"Well it would be somewhere that he would see every time he came here right?"

"...Oh crap."

"You have an idea where it is?"

"Oh I know exactly where it is."

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Danny quickly rushed into the kitchen "Yeah just like I thought, right next to the ham." and so he pressed the button.

" _Defense system activated. Also, the ham has spoiled."_

"Note to self, tell dad the ham has spoiled." and so he quickly rushed back up to the Op Center.

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Leo looked around and noticed the Op Center turning into a blimp and taking to the skies "Wow, it's kind of unbelievable."

"What, that my dad has a gigantic blimp that he uses for emergencies?" asked Danny.

"No, that your dad is actually only the second biggest blimp in the family."

"That pun was way too easy."

"But totally worth it."

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Tucker was brought into the room where the adults were being housed, and quickly got to work in disabling the ghost shield.

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Danny started steering the Op Center to crash into the ship "Steady as she goes… and… fire!"

"Right!" Sam unleashed a sound wave, pushing the ship back.

The ship fired their cannons in retaliation.

"I've got this." Leo activated the shield, deflecting the enemy fire and bringing the mast down on the ship "And that be how we do."

"Nice work." Danny led the offensive unit to the roof of the blimp "Tucker, what's the status?"

" _Less than 60 seconds until the ghost shield is shut down."_

"Right. Now!" Danny hooked onto the ship and swung down onto the deck.

"You heard him people, let's do this!" Leo followed Danny's lead, with the rest of them doing the same "Remember Danny, you and I can't transform until the ghost shield is down."

"Yeah I know, but I don't think I'm gonna need them." he pulled out an ecto baton and whacked two pirates out of existence.

"I've got them!" Dash got two more using the Jack' O Nine Tails "You know Fenton, Hunter, you guys are pretty brave geeks. When I'm whaling on you guys tomorrow I'll be whaling on heroes but I'll still be whaling on you."

"Good to know." Leo broke his ghost weapon in half and charged.

"Leo, here!" Star threw him a Fenton skateboard.

"Thanks!" Leo rode it and charged through 5 pirates with ease.

"Nice one!" Danny gave a thumbs up.

Unfortunately, that was when Ember sent them all flying back with a single chord from her guitar "The only one rocking this boat is me!" she fires another chord, this one trapping them in a force field.

"Son of a-"

That was when Youngblood grabbed both Danny and Leo with his hook "Time for the two of you to walk the plank shark bait!" he then threw them over "And the splat should be comin any second now-" he was cut off by a blast to the face "What the-?"

"That's what you get for hurting my little brother!" that was when Jazz showed up shouldering a Fenton Bazooka, pulling Danny and Leo back up by their grappling hooks.

Danny gave a sigh and a thumbs up "Thanks for the save."

"You didn't think I was just gonna stay home at a time like this did you? Oh and Leo, you'd better take these." she handed him two gauntlets and a sword.

Leo put on the left gauntlet and handed the other one to Danny ' _My Ecto Gauntlets, designed to channel my ghost powers even when I'm in my human form.'_

Danny fired a blast at Ember using the other gauntlet and picked up her guitar "You looking for this?"

"You son of a- Give that back!" Ember tried to incinerate him with her fire hair.

"Nope." Danny evaded enough to avoid being burned alive, instead causing the flames to hit the sail.

"...Okay, maybe not my best idea. Well bon voyage kid, catch you on my comeback tour-"

"Your comeback has been cancelled!" Leo sucked her into the Fenton Thermos "One down, one to go."

"You little-!" Youngblood charged at Leo as he summoned a sword from his hook.

Leo blocked using his Spirit Sword "Alright snot nose, bring it on." he began clashing in a sword duel and easily leapt over a strike "How do you like that you little runt?"

Youngblood summoned cannons from his arm and leg and began firing.

"Oh crap." so Leo began dodging, setting the ship ablaze even further "Danny, hurry and free the others! I'll wrap things up with Short John Silver!"

"Right!" Danny used the gauntlet to free the others, then led the others to free the captive adults.

"Alright then runt, where were we?"

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"In here!" Danny shoved open the door.

"Wow, it's like a PTA health club in here."

"No time for weak jabs, just grab two of them per person and let's get them the hell off of this ship!"

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Youngblood emerged from the flames "Arg, me prisoners are escaping!"

Leo stopped mid slash of his sword "So then what's powering the ship?" then the ship suddenly started falling "Asked and answered." he leapt down in front of Danny and the others "Are all the adults accounted for?"

Danny nodded "Yeah, we just need to get off this ship before it sinks."

"I've got that covered." he hooked onto the blimp, grabbed two adults and then swung down onto the dock below them "See?"

"On it!" Danny grabbed Maddie and did the same, with everyone else following his lead as the ship went down.

Jack was the first to regain his awareness "What happened? Where are we? And why do I suddenly feel like I have buns of steel?"

"AT LAST!" Maddie wrapped her arms around him "I mean, I love you just the way you are."

Danny breathed a long heavy sigh "Well that's done, damn I'm exhausted."

"Tell me about it." Dash stood beside him "You know you did alright tonight Fenton, tomorrow I'm gonna give you the day off from whaling." and he walked off.

"Finally, some street cred!"

Jack grinned "Hey nice jumpsuit kid, you too and you and- Wait a second, Danny did you use the Emergency Op Center while we were away?"

"If by use it you mean use it to save your ungrateful butt from an army of evil pirate ghosts then yes." Leo said dryly.

"...What?"

"Hold on." he promptly sucked Youngblood into the thermos.

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Next day came.

Danny couldn't wipe the smile from his face "This was awesome. We actually got away with having a party in my house that I wasn't invited to, we got some major street cred out of it-"

"-and we brought back some decent radio to this town." Sam finished.

"Life is sweet."

"Speak for yourselves." Leo let out a pained belch "I got some serious indigestion and heartburn from all of those Nasty Burgers."

"Still though, you were right Leo. I can't rely on my ghost powers for everything, if I'm gonna be able to protect the people I care about and ghosts that could hold their own against the likes of Plasmius then I'm gonna have to get stronger as a human as well as a ghost."

"Well what do you know, you really can learn."

 **A/N:**

 **The first part of this chapter was meant to explain why Sam and Tucker haven't been around very much if at all during the first few chapters, give everyone some bonus character development and all that.**

 **I got the inspiration for the Iron Tuck and Iron Hunter suits of armor from seeing the Fenton Peeler Suit in action, and I wanted to give the others a reason to be able to fight with them. That, and I love the Iron Man movies.**

 **One of my reviewers requested that I do more original stuff and I tried to honor that request, but it's going to be more on the slice of life side of things. Also, just to warn you, it might not turn out very well.**

 **The whole Soul Man thing was inspired by an episode of Drake and Josh because that was one of my favorite episodes of all time. Also, it's to prove a little point about the depth of Leo's character. Sure he's been a half ghost for a year longer than Danny has, but the fact is that he's still a teenager.**

 **Now then, I'm having a hard time deciding what to do for another part of this fic. I plan on having Jack find out Danny's secret but can't decide when, should it be during Reign Storm or Reality Trip?**


	6. Reign Storm

A great threat was on the horizon.

Vlad Plasmius was making his way through the Ghost Zone to Pariah's Keep, the home of the Fright Knight and before him Pariah Dark, the king of all ghosts.

Vlad was able to find the king's Ring of Rage with ease, but when he made to get the Crown of Fire he accidentally opens the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, awakening the Ghost King from his eternal slumber.

After trying and failing to make a deal with the Fright Knight, Vlad tried to run away from Pariah, but was shot with an Ecto Ray and sent flying.

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A typical day in the ghost lab of the Hunter household.

Jack was helping Raphael work on a new invention "Man I can't tell you how many days on end I spent working on invention after invention with your father."

"I know, he talked about you a lot." Raph pushed a button, and the pants started up "Alright perfect, the Hunter Pants are charged and operational."

"Yes! I have no doubt Raph my boy, once this new Ecto Skeleton is finished it'll be able to beat back any ghost no matter how powerful!"

"I'm not so sure about that Mr Fenton."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you can't forget that the interface is still glitchy and dangerous Mr Fenton, at this point if anyone uses the suit then it could kill them-" he was cut off when he noticed Vlad fly into the lab through the ghost portal and crash to the ground "What the- Vlad Masters?"

"Jack… Raphael… please… help me…" then Vlad lost consciousness, being sure to close his fist as to hide the Ring of Rage from Jack.

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Danny stood outside Casper High, a content smile on his face "You ever have one of those days where you just feel happy to be alive?"

"You're definitely in a good mood today." Leo noted.

"Well it's not like I don't have a reason to be, last night I shoved both Ember and Skulker back into the Ghost Zone and I still had time to finish Lancer's totally useless book report. I can't think of anything that could ruin this day for me."

"Think fast Fen-Tony!" said anything came in the form of Dash chucking a football at him and nailing him in the gut, knocking him to the ground, and then running away.

"Two can play at that time." Danny fired a mini Ecto Ray from his finger, knocking a sign over and causing Dash to trip over it "No stopping anytime dumbass, though I guess it wouldn't surprise me that you don't know how to read."

"You son of a-"

"Can't hear you, too busy not caring." and he gleefully walked off.

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Leo wasn't particularly keen on this and later confronted Danny in front of his locker "You do know that you're playing with fire don't you?"

Danny shrugged "Say whatever you want, sometimes I have to use my powers for the greater good."

"Such as?"

"That." he pointed to where Dash opened his locker and several dozen rolls of toilet paper spilled out all over him "Say whatever you will Leo, we both know that Dash totally deserves that and it was totally worth it."

"I'm not denying that it wasn't awesome, just let me point out that he's gonna find out that it was you."

"Have you seen his grades? There's no way that's ever gonna happen."

"There are a few things wrong with that statement. First of all, grades mean nothing when it comes to determining how smart someone is. You're a prime example of that, I mean you are a lot smarter than your grades let on. Second, is it the kind of toilet paper that has your dad's face all over it?"

"...Oh crap."

Sure enough, Dash noticed "Hey, this is Fenton Wipe!"

"Double crap."

"Never is Karma's doorbell." Leo noted "And it's also your cue to run like hell without looking back."

"Way ahead of you." Danny promptly took off, with a furious Dash hot on his heels.

"And it's also my cue to head to the roof for my morning workout." and he promptly walked off in the opposite direction.

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Danny quickly hid under a table in the cafeteria ' _Perfect, hiding underneath the nerds playing nerd poker works every time.'_ then he noticed that Valerie was hiding next to him underneath the same table and scowled "Hey find your own hiding spot, I've already called dibs on under the nerds playing nerd poker or whatever the hell they're doing."

Valerie let out a scoff "Ease up Fenton, you're not the only one who needs to hide you know."

"From what exactly?"

"Nathan trying to beg me to be his date to senior prom."

"But that's like 3 years away."

"I know."

"...Yeah, I think we're gonna be here for a good long while."

"You wanna check over our book reports?"

"Sure."

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' _Running running running!'_ Danny was running full speed down the street with Valerie and they ducked into an alley, only to find Sam and Leo already there "Hey guys."

"Still hiding from Dash?" Leo guessed.

"Yep."

"What's her deal?"

"Hiding from Nathan." Valerie told him "You?"

"Rabid fangirls."

"Of course. What about her?"

Sam scowled at being referred to as "her" and pointed to the right.

"Sammykins!" Sam's mother passed by with a frilly, lacy, ribbony pink dresses we know Sam will NEVER wear in a million years "At least try it on!"

Leo poked his head out from behind a dumpster and motioned towards his home "Come on guys, over there. We can all hide in my house." and he quickly led them down the street.

Sam then turned towards Danny "So what's up with this, why are you helping her all of a sudden?"

Danny shrugged "She helped hide me from Dash earlier today and I'm just returning the favor."

"Well the last thing you wanna do is invite one of your god knows how many arch enemies into your own house."

"Oh trust me, that's the last thing you need to worry about with him." Leo opened the door and his expression dulled considerably "Me on the other hand, well I'm another story."

Sure enough, Vlad was sitting right there in the living room in the middle of a game of cards with Jack and Raphael "Oh hello Leonardo, Daniel."

"Oh hey Vlad, what's up? What is it Thursday night already?"

"No it's Tuesday, I was simply passing through today when I noticed that marvellous new battle suit that Jack and your brother were working on and I figured that since I can't just destroy Jack and take it then I suppose I'll just have to steal all of its secrets right out from under his oblivious nose."

Jack stared for a moment, then burst out laughing "Oh Vladdie my man, you kill me!"

"I know, I am such a josher. Would you be so kind as to get me some more tea?"

"You got it V-man! Raph?"

"Kitchen." Raphael pointed.

"Thanks." and he walked off.

Danny stormed up to Vlad, his voice low "I don't know what you're up to Plasmius. Wait actually I do, you literally just told me."

"That's right Daniel." Vlad rounded on him, his voice just as low "Utter one word about it and I'll share your secret with- Oh excellent, the young Miss Gray."

Valerie was taken by surprise "You know me?"

"Why yes."

"How exactly?" asked Leo, pretending to sound suspicious ' _As if I don't already know.'_

That was when an alarm went off and Raphael rushed towards a Ghost Zone radar hidden in the wall "Good god that's bad, something activated the Ecto Exitus alarm!"

"Well that's bad."

"The Ecto What now?" asked Sam.

"The Ecto Exitus alarm, it's an alarm we have that only goes off when we're about to face a massive ghost invasion. Danny."

"Right." Danny shot a look towards Sam "Stall them. Leo."

"I know." and they both rushed off.

"Um… oops." Sam quickly tripped Jack, causing him to fall to the ground.

Valerie quickly reached for her bag, only to realize that it was gone ' _What the hell?'_

"Looking for your ghost hunting equipment are you?"

Valerie whipped around and saw a smug looking Vlad holding her bag "Ghost hunting? How do you know anything about my ghost hunting equipment?"

"Please walk with me my dear." and he led her outside.

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Leo quickly lead Danny down into the lab and transformed, with Danny following his lead as they stopped in front of the portal "Get ready."

"What exactly should we expect from this?" asked Danny.

"I don't know, all that I can tell is that there's at least 100 ghosts about to barge through that portal."

That was when the Box Ghost poked his head through the portal "Beware!"

"Oh for f*ck's sake, we don't have the time or patience to deal with you right now."

"Move it ghost punks!" that was when Walkerburst through the portal and fired Ecto blasts at them.

Leo was able to dodge this, even though Danny wasn't "What the hell Walker?"

"I told you there was a way out through here! Now go go goooo!" this was followed by a massive army of ghosts bursting through the portal and out into the city.

"Well how do you like this one?" Leo grabbed Walker using a newly formed Ecto Whip and dragged him through the ceiling.

"Leo hold on!" Danny freed himself from the hole in the wall and charged after them.

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The streets were in chaos, with ghosts rampaging everywhere.

Leo promptly slammed Walker into the ground "Alright Walker, start talking. What the hell is going on?"

"Hold it whippersnapper!" surprisingly enough, this was when Technus in his upgraded form appeared and grabbed Leo by the arms "I know that this might not sound very far out to you, but we're not the bad guys here."

This was when Danny rose through the streets to meet them "What are you talking about, what are all of you running from?"

"His name is Pariah Dark, the king of all ghosts." Skulker told him with a malicious smirk "And while we may be in a hurry at the moment, this is something we'll always have more than enough time for."

"...Oh no." insert a multi way beat down against Danny and Leo that left them both severely battered and lying on the ground while they retreated.

"Danny!" this was when Sam burst out of the house and rushed over to Danny, standing on Leo's back as if she didn't care about him "Are you okay?"

Danny shot her an annoyed glare.

"Sorry, kind of a standard question."

He kept glaring.

"What?"

He looked down at Leo, or more specifically where she was standing on his back.

"Oh." she nonchalantly stepped back.

"What the hell was that about?"

"I have no idea, but one thing is for sure." Leo got to his feet, holding his back in pain "Right now Vlad Plasmius is the last thing you have to worry about."

Sam scowled "What about you?"

"Have you not been paying attention? He hates Danny's dad but liked mine, and either way I think he has something to do with what's been going on, not to mention that he's the one who gave Valerie her ghost hunting equipment."

"...What?!" Danny rounded on him "Why the hell didn't you say he gave it to her?"

"You didn't ask."

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At the same time in another part of the city, Vlad told Valerie that he had supplied her with ghost hunting equipment because he was impressed by her abilities and determination, not to mention her hatred of Danny Phantom, and gave her the Ring of Rage for reasons he wouldn't say, though he was really just using her to hide it from the Fright Knight and his forces.

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Morning came, and school was in full session at Casper High.

Leo let out a long sigh ' _Oh god…'_

"Are you okay man?" asked Kwan.

"..."

"Yeah you're right, sorry it's just a standard question. Late night?"

"How could it not be? Every ghost I know, not to mention about 990,980 that I don't, are on the loose for reasons I don't know."

"Oh get real." this was when an exhausted looking Danny came over with Tucker and Sam "Try not being able to sleep because your arch enemy is sleeping in the guest room next to you."

"Hey my brother sleeps in the room next to me, it's not the same but at least Vlad doesn't snore like a truck driver swallowing a pig."

"Well maybe but-"

"Hey Danny." this was when Valerie passed him "Hey Leo."

"Hey Val."

Sam scowled "Hey Val? As in the same Val that's usually on a jet sled trying to pace Danny because you can't be bothered to help him? Oh yeah that's right, you arranged for us to have cookies with Skulker on Thursday."

Leo shrugged "Sorry, Thursday is when Vlad comes over for poker night."

"Hey listen Danny, you might wanna bag lunch it outside." Valerie told him "This isn't exactly the safest place for you right now."

Danny blinked "What makes you say that?"

That was when Dash showed up "Hey Fen-turd, no teachers around to protect and no nerds around to hide you."

"Oh for crying out loud. Look Dash why don't you take a hint and take a hike already, I'm way too tired to put up with any crap from you right now. Besides, shouldn't you be failing at life, kicking somebody's puppy or beating the crap out of someone weaker than you right now?"

"Come to think of it, yeah!" he aimed a fist.

To the surprise of everybody, Danny caught the fist with one hand and used his other hand to discreetly fire an Ecto Ray at Dash's shoes, melting them into the floor, and then kicked him in the knee caps, causing him to fall over "And remember Baxter, learn your place for once in your life." this drew cheers from the crowd "Yeah, revenge is sweet."

Sam, however, wasn't so sure "Is it? I mean what if Dash saw something?"

"Oh come on Sam, he's not gonna see something. Besides I'm tired of letting that bastard kick me and everyone else around all the time, maybe the time has come for me to start kicking back a little bit."

"I don't know if that's a good idea." Leo warned ominously "A wise man once said that power and vengeance can consume people, and don't forget that these powers of yours are a gift not a right."

"Hey!" this was when Sam once again rounded on him "Don't try to tell him how to live his life!"

"You mean like saying exactly what you just said?"

"Well I- That's because I- Shut up!" and she stormed off, with Danny and Tucker both going after her.

"I still get the feeling she doesn't like me. Seriously though, what the hell is her problem?"

Star let out a sigh "I've got one idea."

"That being?"

"She probably feels like you're stealing Danny from her and Tucker, I mean he hasn't been spending very much time with them since you guys started training together."

"Hey I started training Danny in using his ghost powers because he asked me to, Tucker gets that so why the hell doesn't Sam?"

"Probably because Tucker doesn't have a crush on him."

"...Son of a bitch, how did I not think of that?" then his phone rang "Hang on. What's up? Oh hey bro. What? Seriously? Alright, thanks for the heads up." then he hung up.

"What's going on?"

"The Fright Knight burst through my brother's portal while he, Vlad and Danny's parents were working on the new Ecto Skeleton, Danny's dad was able to drive him off using the Ecto Pants but it drained him like a battery and now he's out of commission. That's not good, it means that whoever this Ghost King is he's getting ready to make his move. We're gonna have to be ready."

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At the same time, all of the ghosts who had escaped the day before chose to take this time to claim a new haven, invading various stores in the human world to hide in.

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Danny let out a groan "For crying out loud Sam, will you please tell Tucker he's nuts?"

"I don't feel like I'm nuts." Tucker told him.

"But-"

"And I don't think he is either." Sam cut him off "Valerie is one of your enemies Danny, do you really think it's smart to be letting her as close as you are?"

"Look I can handle it, and in case you haven't noticed she's a lot nicer than she used to be. She really isn't that bad once you get to know her."

"Thanks." Valerie made herself known from behind Danny "You know you're really not so bad yourself Fenton." then she noticed Tucker and Sam angrily turning away "What's up with those two?"

"I wouldn't worry about them, they're really good friends and they're just being overprotective. I don't think they're very keen on me making new friends."

"I figured as much, I mean I've seen the way that the goth girl treats Leo. But what do they have to be overprotective of anyway? It's not like either of us have anything to hide."

"...Yeah-" then his Ghost Sense went off ' _Oh crap._ Listen I've gotta jet, I'll talk to you guys later." and he took off, only to run into a certain someone "Dash!" he looked outside and saw the Ghost King's troops swarming the school "Look Dash, this is really bad timing so can we maybe reschedule?"

Dash's scowl deepened "I don't think so runt, unless you think you can make me."

"...And now we're doing this." with his eyes glowing green, Danny promptly grabbed Dash by the arm that was holding him and slammed him to the ground, knocking him out cold "And there's more where that came from Baxter, so watch it next time! _I've really gotta thank Leo for teaching me how to use my ghost powers to enhance my physical strength. It really comes in handy at times like this.'_

"Excellent." that was when Vlad showed up "It feels good to use your powers on your enemies doesn't it Daniel?"

"I don't know, let's find out. **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** Danny quickly went ghost and breathed out a massive blast of ectoplasmic fire, scorching Vlad and sending him flying through the wall, which was promptly incinerated "Does that answer your question? It does for me, and it feels awesome. And so does watching Fairy Tail, it's really good for honing my fire powers."

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"Hey Val, Sam, Tuck." Leo rushed past the group "Tucker."

"I figured, let's go." and Tucker followed after him.

"Hey guys." this was when Star and Kwan came up to them.

"Where are those guys always running to all the time?" asked Valerie "I mean the only guys I see running off like that have a job or a girlfriend."

"Trust me Valerie, Leo doesn't have a girlfriend." Star told her.

"Forgive me if I'm skeptical."

"What are you talking about?"

"You've got the hots for Hunter don't you?"

"What? No I don't!" her pink cheeks said otherwise.

"Uh huh. I can't blame you though, he's an alright guy." then she turned to Sam "And you've got a thing for Danny don't you?"

Sam let out a scoff "Get real, he's my best friend!"

"Yeah I'm sure he is, but if you like him and I mean like him like him then you'd better make a move because if you don't then somebody else will.

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At the same time, all of the parents rushed to the school to pick up their kids.

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"Let's go Plasmius!" Danny led Vlad to the school football field and charged at him.

Vlad caught Danny in a chokehold with one hand "Calm down Daniel. I didn't come here to fight you, I have other more important things to worry about at the moment."

"Like the fact that the Fright Knight is coming at us?" this was when Leo made himself known alongside Tucker, who was clad in the Mark I armor "Get ready guys, they're coming!"

Sure enough, the Fright Knight and the soldiers charged.

" **Getsuga Tenshou!"** Leo drew the Spirit Sword from his back and fired a blast of ecto energy from the blade, destroying at least 15 soldiers "You can thank Bleach for that. Danny!"

"Right! **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** Danny unleashed his Fire Dragon's Roar, incinerating at least 25 of the soldiers, before he fell to one knee "Sorry… That kinda… takes a lot… out of me…" then he looked up and saw one of the soldiers pounce at him.

"Get down!" Vlad fired an Ecto Ray, destroying the soldier and going to town on several more after that.

"You're helping me? What do you want, my mother's cell phone number?"

"No! But if you were willing to give me her number-"

"You!" the Fright Knight suddenly grabbed Vlad by the front of his cloak "The King's prize, return it now!"

"I don't have it, but if you were willing to join me then perhaps-"

"Focus!" that was when Tucker fired a barrage of of miniature ecto missiles at both of them, knocking them away.

As if to add insult to injury, that was when Valerie showed up and blasted at Danny, Leo, Vlad and the Fright Knight all at once "Guess what everybody? The best ghost hunter in all of Amity Park is here, and that means that you're about to get your asses handed to you!"

Vlad promptly got up and dusted himself off "She really is quite good at this."

"And she also happens to think that we're the enemy." Leo pointed out.

"Also a fair point."

"Gotcha!" that was when Valerie dropped several ecto grenade balls on the ground between the two of them, forcing them to jump out of the way.

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Jazz watched with Kwan, Star and Sam from the sidelines ' _Danny, please be careful.'_ then she noticed several different cars of the same exact type show up.

"Is it just me or does everyone in this town drive the exact same car?" asked Kwan.

"You notice it too?"

That was when Damon rushed up to them "Kids, have you seen Valerie?"

Tucker, Sam, Star and Kwan all shared a look "She's with Leo and Danny."

Then Maddie rushed over "Kids, have you seen Danny?"

"He's with Leo and Valerie."

"Who's Valerie?"

"Not important."

"Guys!" that was when Raphael rushed in "Have you seen Leo?"

"He's with Danny and Valerie."

"Who?"

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"Alright ghosts, start talking." Valerie picked up both Danny and Leo by the fronts of their jumpsuits "What's going on here?"

"That guy." Leo nonchalantly pointed to where the Fright Knight was charging at them "Just get back, I've got this."

"You sure about this?" asked Danny.

"You watch the part of Fairy Tail where they show off Laxus Dreyar's abilities?"

"No."

"Good, then watch this. **Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"** he fired a large blast of lightning from one of his fists, incinerating the field along with at least 30 soldiers "Wow, the guy who lays down the sod is so gonna want a raise after this."

"Thanks." Valerie muttered.

"Don't worry about it. Look I know this is gonna be hard to believe-" he looked to see Vlad get drop kicked and tackled by the Fright Knight "-but that guy with the sword is the problem right now, I know because I've fought him before and I know that we'll need your help to beat him."

"I still don't trust you or your spooky friends."

"And you think I trust you? Like a wise man once said, it's best to keep your friends close and your enemies closer." he held out his hand "So do we have a deal?"

"...Fine, deal." she reluctantly shook it "For now."

"Good, now if you'll excuse me. Danny, you remember those Naruto Kekkei Genkai charts I showed you?"

Danny blinked, then smirked as realization dawned on him "Thunder Dragon's Roar?"

"Thunder Dragon's Roar." he prepared a blast of lightning in his mouth.

Danny prepared a blast of fire in his mouth "Fire and lightning make-"

" **THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!"** they both unleashed simultaneous blasts, one of fire and one of lightning, both of which combined into a massive blast of both fire and lightning, the blast engulfing the Fright Knight and sending him flying through the bleachers, which were promptly incinerated by the blast.

Valerie looked on in awe "Woah."

"And that's straight out of the Fairy Tail handbook…" that was when Leo promptly fell to one knee, forcing himself not to transform back.

"You fools!" that was when the Fright Knight staggered out of the wreckage "All I wanted to do was seize the ring and returned to Pariah's Keep, but now it seems that the 5 of you give me no choice. By the authority vested in me by my lord and liege, I claim this town now and forever under the banner of Lord Pariah, the king of all ghosts!" and with that, he stuck his sword, the Soul Slayer, into the ground, erecting a barrier around the entire city, freezing all of the ghost soldiers in their tracks in the process.

"So what if it's some stupid barrier?! **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** Danny unleashed another Fire Dragon's Roar at the barrier, but it wasn't even effected "What the hell?"

"So what, let's just take this guy out instead!" Valerie charged at the Fright Knight at full speed, only to be swatted aside and sent crashing to the ground, knocking her out cold.

"Valerie!"

"My pawn!" Vlad was quick to correct himself "I mean, that poor girl." he received a suspicious glare from Danny.

"I've got her." Tucker rushed down to check on her as he retracted his armor, with Danny, Leo and Vlad soon joining him "I think she'll be alright."

This was when the Fright Knight approached them "The sword is sunk, your die now cast, the sword removed shall signal fast. Make reappear the ring thou hast or your next day shall be your last." and with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and bats.

"The ring thou hast?" Leo shot a look at Vlad and received an innocent shrug, as they and Danny quickly powered down.

" _Children of Amity Park!"_ that was when Maddie came bursting onto the scene with Damon in the Fenton RV " _Report to the safe bosom of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle!"_

"...Well at least we turned back before she could see you two like this."

They rushed onto the scene and scowled at the sight of them with an injured Valerie.

"Hey don't get mad at us, she was like that when we got here."

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4 hours passed, and the group had retreated back to the Hunter household.

Raphael continued working on the Ecto Skeleton "Right now this suit is the only hope we have of being able to pierce through that dome, the only problem is I don't think I'll be able to perfect the neural receptors entirely."

"Which is why I'll wear the suit, if anybody is gonna beat that ghost back into the Ghost Zone then it's gonna be me." Jack stood up, only to stumble.

"Absolutely not Mr Fenton, no disrespect meant but you're a wreck. You're still wiped out from the last time, if you go in like that now then you will die. I'm not willing to sacrifice your life to get us through this."

Leo checked out the neural receptors "I should be able to perfect them but it would take months, and we don't have anywhere near enough time for that."

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Valerie stumbled up to the living room and found Tucker, Sam, Star and Kwan watching the news for any new updates "Hey guys."

"You feeling any better?" asked Tucker.

"A little bit, though I'm kind of surprised that you care. You guys don't like me very much do you?"

"We don't know you very much." Sam pointed out "And to be honest, you used to be pretty mean to us."

"You mean like how you are to Hunter now?"

"...That's not the point, do you really think we're just gonna start hanging out with you without wondering what you want? And where you got that ring?"

Valerie quickly covered the Ring of Rage "That officially falls under the category of none of your business, and besides it's not like I'm the only one with an attitude problem. Seriously, I may not have earned your trust but Hunter hasn't done a damn thing to you and you treat him like he's the plague! What's your problem with him?"

"That officially falls under the category of none of your damn business."

This was when Danny and Leo came up from the lab "Hey guys, what's up?"

"You two, closet, now." she dragged the two of them, along with Tucker, Star and Kwan, into the hall closet.

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"Danny you do realize that the minute you go ghost she's gonna try to blow off your head first and ask questions never." Kwan pointed out.

"She's not gonna find out." Danny protested firmly.

"Oh yeah right." Sam let out a scoff "How do you know that she's not snooping in on this conversation right now? What if that ring on her finger is actually some kind of ghost detection device?"

"Ring? What are you talking about?" Leo phased his head through the door and saw the Ring of Rage on her finger "...Oh crap, that's not good."

"What's up?" asked Danny.

"What's up is that I think she's wearing the ring that the Fright Knight was looking for earlier, Vlad must've given it to her and now he's trying to use her in order to hide it from him."

"Isn't he a little old for her?" asked Tucker.

"...Not going there. Basically he's using her to hide that ring from the Fright Knight, something really f*cked up is going on with that ring and we need to find out exactly what it is."

"How exactly?" asked Danny.

"Like this." Leo flashed into his ghost form "I keep a box of my dad's old ghost hunting journals up in the attic, come on." he grabbed the 6 of them and phased them up through the roof.

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20 minutes of looking through his journals later…

"Found it!" Leo pulled a dusty old journal out of a cardboard box.

"What does it say?" asked Star.

"Hold on, I'm getting to it." he turned a page and began reading "It was many years ago. Before us, before my dad, before most of the ghosts that came barging through from the Ghost Zone like a stampede of angry rhinos. His name was Pariah Dark, and he ruled over the Ghost Zone with an iron fist. It says here that he was a ghost of such power and magnitude that only he could control the awesome powers contained within the Ring of Rage, the ring that Valerie got from Vlad, and the Crown of Fire. When he wore both of these powerful artifacts, he was capable of just about anything and had almost limitless power. With these powers under his command he was considered to be an unstoppable force, that is until a group of powerful ancient ghosts all banded together in a last ditch effort to defeat the king. The succeeded in defeating him but in order to make sure he could never reclaim his power, they locked him away in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, in which he was meant to lay dormant for an eternity, or so we thought. At least that's what it says anyway. He's only been free for a day and he's already decimated the Ghost Zone, I mean why else would the ghosts flee to this world?"

"And that's without the Ring of Rage." Danny muttered "If he gets it-"

"-then he would be unstoppable. We can't let him get that ring but even now we don't have a chance in hell of taking him on, at this point we've only got one chance. The Ecto Skeleton."

"But you said it would take months to fix."

"Which means that we're gonna have to fight without that, as in if either one of us uses it then we could die."

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Vlad was waiting outside of the Hunter household and saw Danny emerge "You said you wanted to talk to me outside."

"You're putting innocent people in danger for your own selfish gain." Danny snarled "It has to stop and it has to stop now."

"Is that right? You really found out what I'm up to? Your tiny teen mind has pieced together the rest of my plot?"

"That you stole the Ring of Rage, woke up the Ghost King from the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, gave the ring to Valerie to hide it from the Fright Knight and now you're waiting for your chance to steal it back without ruining your reputation?"

"That's pretty good, it's almost as though I barely consider you a threat."

Danny's eyes started glowing green in anger.

"Oh dear, here comes that temper of yours again. What are you going to do? Whatever would you do if the young Miss Gray were to see us, hmm?"

"For the record, she thinks I'm in the closet." he fired an Ecto Ray from his finger, destroying the street light over them, the only visible light after that being from him going ghost.

"...Oh sugar cookie."

" **Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"** coating himself and his entire body in ectoplasmic flames, Danny dealt Vlad a powerful headbutt, sending him flying and crashing through a billboard.

Despite being a wreck in his human form, Vlad still went ghost "A sneak attack, very good Daniel. You're getting more and more like me with every battle."

"I am nothing like you! **Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"** he sent Vlad flying with another fire enhanced headbutt.

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Leo's head snapped up ' _Great, those two idiots are going at it again. I'd better hurry and make sure they don't do anything to piss off this Ghost King. I can't risk going ghost if Valerie shows up though, what can I do?'_

"Here."

Leo looked and saw Tucker holding out the Mark I wrist watch "Tucker…"

"Fighting ghosts is cool and all but it really isn't my thing, and I think that right now you need this more than I do."

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Danny pinned Vlad down back on the football field at Casper High, or more like what was left of it from the earlier battle "How's that one?"

Vlad's smirk remained in place "You claim that you're not like me? Using your powers to get back at people you don't like? Throwing the first punch without being prompted? You're far more like me than you know." he backhanded Danny across the field, sending him crashing down to the ground in front of the Soul Slayer.

"Oh yeah? Well if that's the case then instead of asking you to give the Ring of Rage back, I'll just make you!" he gripped the Soul Slayer.

"Danny you idiot don't!" this was when Leo touched down on the football field clad in the Mark I armor and holding the Spirit Sword "The sword is supposed to be a signal!"

"Signal? Signal for what?" and yet Danny pulled the sword out anyway, causing the barrier around the city to shatter, revealing the endless green skies of the Ghost Zone in place of the Earth, and the invading forces of resumed their march.

"Of your surrender!" a thunderous voice boomed, courtesy of Pariah Dark, the Ghost King, who stood alongside the Fright Knight, who promptly reclaimed his sword. With this in mind, the Ghost King let out an Ecto Ray, hitting both Danny and Vlad at the same time and knocking them both out cold.

Leo braced himself ' _I'm gonna need to transform for this, good thing the armor covers my appearance so nobody will know I'm half ghost.'_

That was when Raphael appeared on the jumbotron " _Citizens of Amity Park, this is Raphael Hunter here with Jack and Maddie Fenton! A malevolent spirit has pulled the entirety of our city into a dimension we humans have come to know as the Ghost Zone. A Ghost Zone probe has already been launched and the radius of the Ghost Shield has been increased to protect the entirety of the city, pushing out the invading ghosts. The fact that we are currently within an alternate form of reality would be much more fascinating to a scientist such a myself were it not that our lives are all in mortal danger. For your own safety, please run underneath the Hunter Anti-Ghost Shield. But more than anything, it's best that you all remember this. This is not in any way, shape or form Jack Fenton's fault. I repeat, this is not Jack Fenton's fault!"_

' _...Leave it to you to try to save someone's face during the ghost apocalypse bro.'_

Pariah fired an Ecto ray the screen and looked back at Danny and Vlad in his hold "They contain the essence of both ghosts and humans, is there no end to the surprises brought by this day?"

"I've got one for you old man, one brought by the greatest ghost hunter the world has ever seen! Straight from the handbook of Benjamin Hunter, it's Phantom Time!" he flashed into his ghost form, transforming his armor along with him.

"You are also a hybrid, and yet you are a bit rough around the edges are you not child?"

"How about we skip the snappy banter and get right to the part where I beat you within an inch of your afterlife?"

"Very well, I accept your terms!" Pariah charged in, dropping the unconscious forms of Danny and Vlad on the ground in the process.

"This one I just made up! **Lightning Dragon's Barrier!"** combining his ghost powers with that of his armor, Leo erected a barrier made of lightning.

Pariah struck it with his mace, electrocuting him, the force sending him stumbling back, but he quickly recovered and smirked "Having that much power, it's a burden is it not child?" he threw his mace forward.

Leo leapt up and dodged the mace, only for it to circle around him and hit him from behind, but he quickly recovered.

Pariah dealt him a quick spin kick, sending him flying into what was left of the bleachers.

"You're wrong…" Leo staggered back to his feet "The burden… isn't the power itself… the burden… is how you use it… That's the lesson… I've been trying to teach… my protegee… But I guess he's not ready… to take you on… so I'll do it… in his place!" he quickly duplicated himself into 4 copies and they all charged in, with two circling around him and the other two dealing him Ecto Rays from the air.

Pariah struck the two on the ground with his mace "Surrender child, you cannot possibly win this battle."

"I don't need to win, I just need to make sure that you lose! And I've got the perfect technique to make sure of that." he charged a blast of fire, with the clone charging a blast of lightning, and they put them together " **RAGING THUNDER!"** they combined their blasts into one massive attack, the blast slamming into Pariah dead on and engulfing him in a massive explosion, destroying what remained of the football field, before he transformed back and fell to the ground, having lost consciousness from exhaustion.

When the blast subsided, Pariah emerged with minor wounds, but nothing very noteworthy, and he leered down at Leo's unconscious form "You have fought valiantly child, but this victory is mine. Are there any more surprises to be expected this day?"

"Hey stone face, surprise!" Valerie showed up and fired a blast of pink ectoplasm at him, covering his eyes long enough for her to get Leo, Danny and Vlad on her hoverboard, dodging an eye blast but slamming into the goal post, knocking her glove off in the process, revealing the Ring of Rage on her hand.

The Fright Knight's eyes shot wide when he saw this "The ring, give that to the king now!"

"You want this thing so badly? Then go get it yourself!" she fired it into the distance on an Ecto Missile.

"The ring!" Pariah quickly chased after it.

Seizing her chance, Valerie picked the others back up and took them away as fast as she could.

"You won't get away!" the Fright Knight charged after Valerie on his horse and fired several blasts from his Soul Slayer, hitting one of the engines on her board, sending her crashing to the ground right inside of the ghost shield.

Seeing that they were safe, Valerie grabbed Leo and the others and walked off.

Furious, the Fright Knight tried to break through to no avail "This! Is! Not! Over!"

"Actually my loyal servant, it is!" that was when Pariah made himself known again, holding the Ring of Rage, which he promptly put on, causing the Fright Knight to bow to him and his awesome level of power "Come, we have plans to make. For soon, this human world will also be mine!" and he walked off, with the Fright Knight following him.

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Now injured further with her gear damaged, Valerie made her way into Leo's room through an open window and placed Danny and Vlad in chairs and Leo on the bed "Good… that was close… Maybe I'll rest for… just a second…" and she passed out from exhaustion.

That was when Vlad came to and noticed the Ring of Rage was missing "The ring, it's gone!" he heard footsteps and quickly turned invisible, then phased through the floor.

Raphael poked his head into the room, with Jack and Maddie right behind him "I told you both they're just fine, my little brother wouldn't get into any trouble." and they left.

Danny's eyes snapped open and he found Leo lying unconscious on the bed ' _Leo… he's in pain after what he went through… I was semi conscious during that whole thing but I didn't have the strength to move, let alone fight. You were amazing out there Leo, but does that mean that I still have that far to go before I can protect everyone I care about?'_ then he looked over towards where Valerie was sleeping against the wall.

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Star was getting worried "I'm really concerned about this you guys, we haven't seen Leo, Danny or Valerie in hours."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that." Raphael came down the stairs followed by Jack "Those three have just been up in Leo's room. Alone. For hours."

"...What?" then Sam suddenly took off, with Tucker, Star and Kwan following.

Jack and Raphael shared a look and shrugged.

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"Danny, you're okay!" Sam burst into the room, with Star and the others following.

"Yeah, somehow." Danny muttered without looking at them.

"What happened to them?" Star's voice was laced with concern, but her eyes were locked directly onto Leo.

"You name it. The Fright Knight, Vlad, Leo trying to take on the Ghost King one on one and almost killing himself. All of my enemies, well except for the Fright Knight, but still this is just about everything I thought I could handle but the truth is that I'm not strong enough to do this myself."

Sam looked on, her eyes narrowing slightly "Danny-"

"I thought that by spending as much time training with Leo as I could then I would be able to get strong enough to protect all of you guys, even if it meant unintentionally pushing all of you away. I was willing to do anything to keep you safe, because I knew that if anything happened to you then I would never be able to forgive myself. But look where that's got me now. Valerie is hurt, Leo broke practically every bone in his body trying to finish something for me, and my dad is probably gonna try and sacrifice himself to stop the Ghost King, not to mention it's probably why you hate Leo so much. I thought that relying on you guys meant that I wasn't strong enough to do it on my own, but the fact here is that Leo was right when he told me that I needed others by my side in order to make myself stronger. I just wish I had realized that beforehand."

"Dude, you can't blame yourself for this." Tucker told him "It isn't your fault."

"Maybe not but that doesn't matter anymore, because regardless of who's fault it is this is still my responsibility. I have to finish what my mentor started, and I have to do it using everything he's taught me up to this point." he flashed into his ghost form and grabbed onto the 4 of them, then phased them through the floor.

Once they were gone, Leo's eyes slowly opened and he reached for the Mark I wrist watch.

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Danny pulled the 4 of them down to the lab ' _Great, there's a crowd down here. Just what I need.'_

Sure enough, Raphael was showing off the Ecto Skeleton to a crowd of parents and other volunteers "And while the Ecto Skeleton is capable of enhancing your natural capabilities 100 times over, using it in battle does have a 50% chance of being fatal until the neural receptors are perfected, which would take months."

"Which is exactly why I'll be using it." this was when Jack stepped forward "If the suit should kill anybody then I say it should be me."

"No!" Maddie chopped him on the neck and knocked him out "You're already weakened from the first time you used the suit, I'll be going in."

Jazz chopped her "Forget it mom, Danny needs the both of you. I'm doing this." she was promptly knocked out, with this cycle repeating itself over and over again with everybody in the room, with the exception of Raphael.

Danny turned himself and the others visible as he watched this unfold "I thought I was gonna have to blast everybody else with a finger beam like in Dragon Ball but I guess this could work too, actually it's a lot more efficient now that I think about it."

"What? Danny no, you can't!" Sam protested.

"Sam that guy was able to beat Leo without even trying and now he's even more powerful, right now I'm the only one who has a chance to get us out of the Ghost Zone and back to Earth alive."

"Someone oughta tell her that." Kwan pointed to where Valerie was standing by the Ecto Skeleton.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to step away from the suit."

Valerie's scowl came in full force "Back off spook, I don't know how you got into the Hunter's ghost shield but this is my fight."

"No it's not, at least not anymore."

"The hell it isn't!"

This was when Damon came back down and saw everyone unconscious "Hey, what's going on in here?" he failed to notice Tucker, Sam, Star, Kwan, Raphael and Maddie sneaking up the stairs behind him.

"You're not the boss of me!"

Danny then proceeded to out Valerie to her father by removing her mask with a smug grin on his face "Maybe not, but he is."

"You little-"

"Valerie?" Damon was taken by surprise.

Valerie let out a scream "You're dead for this, do you hear me?! DEAD!" she whipped out some Ecto Guns.

However, this was when Damon grabbed her and stopped her from firing "Valerie."

"Thanks for the save Mr Gray!" Danny then proceeded to phase out of the lab, taking the Ecto Skeleton with him.

"You've been battling ghosts all this time? Are you okay?"

"I'm… I'm fine." Valerie relented, albeit reluctantly.

"Oh good, then you are in SO MUCH TROUBLE!"

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Danny pulled the Ecto Skeleton up to the roof of the Hunter house and got inside as he transformed back "Alright, here goes nothing. Activate neural receptors." the neural receptors snapped onto his spine "Initiate power up sequence." the suit powered up to 95% "Yeah there we go." he looked back "You guys know that I can see you over there right?"

Maddie burst out of the door, with the others following "Sweetie please, you don't have to do this."

"Yes I do mom, if you know me at all then you understand why too."

"Danny please." now Sam was the one begging.

"Oh come on guys, you didn't think it was always gonna be as easy as shoving the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos did you? I'll be back, I promise."

"But I did say it had a 50% chance of proving fatal." Raphael pointed out, earning annoyed glares from everyone present "Sorry, I'm just telling it like it is."

"I give you my word guys, I will be back. But Sam just tell me, why have you been so bitter towards Leo since he showed up?"

Sam let out a long sigh "I just… I feel like he's taking you away from us. From me. I just don't want you to get hurt because of something you do with him so I guess I just kind of push him away so you will too."

"Sam you should know him better, Leo never meant to create any kind of wall between us and I've been training with him as much as I have so that I would be ready for stuff like this. I give you my word, I will be back. Seriously though, if there's anything you wanna say to me then now might be an excellent time to do it."

"...I-"

A thunderous roar could be heard as a crimson storm cloud covered the endless green skies of the Ghost Zone, also with the face of Pariah "Humans, hear my decree!"

Danny let out a sigh "Well I guess that's my cue. Mom, Tuck, I'll need you guys to drop the ghost shield on my way out okay?"

"Alright, just be careful sweetie." and Maddie rushed back downstairs, with Tucker, Star, Kwan and Raphael following.

Danny locked eyes with Sam and gave a small smile "I will come back."

"...Just be careful." and she rushed off.

With a fresh reminder of just who he was fighting for, Danny promptly flashed into his ghost form, the suit mimicking this action, and he took off ' _Here goes nothing.'_

By this point everyone was cheering for him "Go get him Inviso Bill!"

"It's not Inviso Bill! It's Phantom, DANNY PHANTOM! And my mentor and partner's name is the Phantom Blade!" and he took off through the ghost shield ' _Goodbye Amity Park, my friends, my family. With any luck, I'll be seeing you all again really soon.'_

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Star looked on away from the others ' _Danny… just be sure to kick his butt and come back. I know that Leo would be sad if anything happened to his protegee.'_ then she looked back and noticed something ' _Is that the Specter Speeder? Wait, don't tell me…'_

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Danny approached Pariah's Keep, only to see an army of skeleton ghosts waiting for the command to invade ' _Okay, that's a lot of skeletons. I think I see 10… no 20… no 50… 100… 1,000… 5,000 maybe… Okay, that's more counting than my brain can handle. I can't just charge in there or I'd get wasted, they're definitely more than a match for me. But am I supposed to give up? Of course not, this is me we're talking about._ Maybe if I try and pick these guys off one at a time." he fired a mini blue Ecto Ball, incinerating at least 20 in an instant "Holy crap, 100 fold huh? That definitely does not reek!" he fired an Ecto Ray, incinerating at least 20 that time, though that was when he began to feel the draining effects "Woah… Okay, I guess I've gotta be smart about how much of my own power I use at once." he summoned an ecto shield to defend himself against an army of archers, repelling their arrows with ease "This still doesn't reek in any way, shape or form!" he began blasting through the army with ease, also managing to overpower an attempted dog pile, but he soon found himself being cornered "Okay maybe I should've thought this through more."

" **Lightning Dragon's Roar!"** a powerful blast of lightning incinerated another 100 of the soldiers, courtesy of Leo as he arrived in the Specter Speeder "I thought you could use a little hand in this fight, you know in general I actually am pretty opposed to violence but in a case like this I'm more than willing to make an exception."

"Leo get the hell out of here, it's way too dangerous for you to be here! Don't forget that you're still seriously hurt!"

"Hey that didn't stop me during that thing with Walker and the mayor so why should it stop me now? Besides I know that I don't stand a chance against the Ghost King right now. This is your fight now Danny, I'm just offering up a little push. Plus I'm making a delivery." he pushed a button, and from the Specter Speeder emerged Skulker and several other ghosts.

"...How the hell did he cram all of you into the Specter Speeder?"

Ember let out a scoff "Get real kid, you ever been inside that stupid thermos? It was the damn Taj Mahal in there compared to that."

"Less talking, more fighting!" Skulker began blasting missiles at the skeleton army.

"You read my mind Skulker! **Lightning Dragon's Roar!"** Leo unleashed another powerful blast of lightning, incinerating almost all of the skeletons in front of the door.

"Now go, defeat him so that I will be free to hunt you another day!"

"You heard the man, move it!"

"You guys really know how to motivate people don't you?" Danny noted dryly.

"And Danny."

"Yeah?"

"Kick his ass."

"...Of course I will, I had a great teacher." and he took off inside full speed.

"Come on boys, we've got ass to kick!" and Leo charged into the fray full force.

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' _Well this is it, no going back now.'_ with no further hesitation, Danny busted through the doors to the inner chamber.

Pariah stood waiting for him, a confident smirk plastered across his face "A little ragged around the edges are we child?"

"What do you say we just ditch the snappy banter and get right to the good part, as in where I kick your ass?"

"Very well, I accept your terms!" Pariah charged in and brought down his mace.

Danny raised an ecto shield to block Pariah's strike, sending him stumbling back ' _The suit's power is down to 40%, I can't let this drag out any longer than I have to.'_ he fired an Ecto Ray, sending Pariah crashing into his throne.

Pariah stood back up, having taken no damage "Having that much power, it's a burden is it not child?" he threw his mace.

Danny leapt upwards and dodged the mace, though it circled around and hit him in the back, but he recovered and got back to his feet.

Pariah caught his mace and dealt Danny a spin kick, sending Danny crashing into the wall behind him.

"It's not the power that's the burden…" Danny staggered to his feet "The burden is how I use that power, and I've been using it pretty poorly lately." straining this time, he finally managed to create 4 duplicates of himself ' _Well that's just great, it pulled me down to 25% but I've got him on the ropes! At least I hope I do.'_ and they charged, with two blasting him from opposite sides, one punching him from above, and one circling around and blasting him.

"Fool!" Pariah hit the one on the ground with his mace, dissipating it.

" **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** the original Danny slammed his fire enhanced fists into Pariah's back, slamming him into the wall "Now leave my town ALONE!" all three copies of him punched Pariah out.

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Sam and the others looked around and noticed that for one fleeting moment, the skies of the Ghost Zone flickered to the skies of Earth ' _Danny…'_

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The battle continued.

"You fool!" Pariah fired an Ecto Ray, dissipating another clone "Surrender child, you cannot possibly win this battle."

"I don't need to win." Danny fired an Ecto Ray at the wall, revealing the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep "All I have to do is make sure that you lose!" he sent for his last remaining duplicate to open the sarcophagus while he blasted the Crown of Fire off of Pariah's head.

"No! NOOO!"

"And without your infinite power, now I can do this! It's over Pariah! **Fire Dragon's Grip Strike!"** Danny grabbed Pariah with one arm, gripping that arm with his other, and slammed him with a massive blast of fire at point blank range, scorching him several and slamming him into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, but also burning off the arms of the Ecto Skeleton, though he refused to let go of his grip "Dammit… he's got… too much power… I'm sorry everyone…"

"Don't apologize, you did it." a hand used the Skeleton Key to lock the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, leaving Pariah to lay dormant once more, as well as returning Amity Park back to the world of the living.

"What…?" Danny looked back, his vision blurring, and he saw Leo standing behind him holding the Ring of Rage, the Crown of Fire and the Skeleton Key, with Vlad and the Fright Knight, along with all of the other ghosts, standing behind him "I don't… understand…"

Leo shrugged "What's not to understand? That idiot in the cape thought he could be king by using 2 14 year old pawns when really it was his own knight who was the most important piece, and he ended up turning a knight and toppling the enemy king? It's nothing more than a simple game of chess Danny, I'm sure you'll come to understand it someday."

"Yeah… I guess I will…" then Danny saw everything go black for him.

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"Danny? Danny?" a voice kept calling out to him.

"Wh-What the…?" Danny slowly opened his eyes and saw Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Jack, Maddie, Star, Kwan, Valerie, Damon and Vlad standing over him "You're all…"

Vlad stepped forward and gave a small smirk "You gave us quite a scare there little badger."

"What… What happened?"

"Vladdie told us everything." Jack told him "Apparently Leo found you just outside the dome after the town flickered back to reality, and even though he got hurt he was still giving every ounce of strength he had to get you to safety. Leo saved your life."

"Leo… How is he?"

"Well he was hurt pretty bad but he'll be back in action in no time, and let me tell you now that he'll always be welcome in our home. He can stay in your room."

Danny let out a soft chuckle, then winced from the pain.

"You were able to find yourself a good friend there Danny, don't waste him.

"I know… I won't…"

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Danny stopped by the Hunter household a few days later "Hey."

"Hey…" a heavily bandaged Leo with a cast on his left arm and right left tried to get off the couch, but winced and sat back down "Ow…"

"Don't strain yourself."

"Yeah, sorry… So have you seen the news? Apparently about 70% of the people in the city see at least you as a hero."

"I have you to thank for that. Still though, I can't help but wonder what that was all about. I mean the ghosts are all off rebuilding their homes but the Ecto Skeleton is gone, not to mention you said something about a pact with Vlad and the Fright Knight and-"

"Danny, let it go. You beat a big bad guy that even I couldn't handle and you saved the city, you really got a big win here. You really came through, and I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, but it was all thanks to your training in the end."

"Yeah, about that… We're taking a week off."

"I can wait until you've fully recovered, don't worry about that."

"No, not that. Sam and I had a talk while you were out. I never meant to drive any sort of wedge between you and them."

"I know."

"Your training for this next week is to lay off of the ghost hunting and spend some much needed R&R time with your friends and family. God knows you've earned it."

"Sure thing, and thanks. For being such a great teacher, and for being such a great friend."

"Hey us half ghosts have to stick together right?" he held up a hand.

Danny clasped the hand firmly and smiled "Yeah, us half ghosts have to stick together."

 **A/N:**

 **I am SOOOO sorry this took so long, I've just been so busy with my other stories and with midterms for my senior year of high school. All in all, I've had a lot on my plate. On the bright side, first chapter of 2018. Yay!**

 **I'm also adding fire, lightning and eventually ice techniques from Fairy Tail and other anime, but mostly Fairy Tail, because they're awesome as f*ck.**

 **I know the whole thing with Danny and Sam fighting was ended kind of abruptly so I chose to round it off here. Sorry about that.**

 **In case this didn't show it, 1 hour specials will be made into separate chapters, so expect the same when I cover The Ultimate Enemy, Reality Trip and Phantom Planet.**


	7. The Ultimate Enemy

(Normal speak)

 _(Thought)_

 **(Techniques, Technus inside Skulker speak)**

10 years into the future, a future where a large majority of the world lay in ruins.

Leo flew through the skies of Amity Park, which was now protected by a ghost shield, and he spoke into a communicator on his watch "Alright guys, looks like ghost shield tower 9 is operating at 100% capacity."

On the screen of his communicator appeared Kwan, who had a scar running down the left side of his face, not hitting his eye though, and he had a goatee " _Alright good work Leo, just check on the last tower really quick and hurry back-"_ then the communication shut out.

"Kwan? Kwan come in, do you hear me?"

Instead of Kwan, a pair of sinister crimson eyes appeared on the screen " _Hello Leonardo."_

"Oh for f*ck's sake, you again? Look I don't care how powerful you think are, we both know that I'm the only one with enough power to break through the ghost shield."

" _If this were yesterday then that would be true, but not anymore."_ this was followed by a furious howl, shaking the entirety of Amity Park and causing the ghost shield towers to short out and explode one by one until the shield itself was destroyed "Well that's just the story of my life isn't it?"

" _So you like the new power? I call it the Ghostly Wail."_

"Impressive, you still suck but it's still impressive."

" _And I have you to thank for it… teacher. Oh and for old times sake, look behind you."_

"Way ahead of you." Leo fired an Ecto Ray behind him without looking, dissipating the fireball surging towards him, and looked behind him, his eyes narrowing dangerously "Well that's just typical, you again?"

"Yes, me." and who else appeared before Leo but the Fright Knight "And I serve a new master now."

"Serve this asshole! **Sky Dragon's Roar!"** Leo breathed out a massive blast of wind, capturing the blast of fire and turning it on the Fright Knight, engulfing him in a massive blast of fire, enhanced by the wind, sending him flying into an abandoned building, which was promptly destroyed by the blast ' _Well that was fun, now I've gotta get back to Kwan and Star before_ he _does.'_ and he took off.

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Soon enough, Leo phased through the walls of the Hunter household and found Kwan and Star working in the lab "Guys we've gotta be ready."

"Is _he_ here?" asked Kwan.

"Well I just had a little run in with the Fright Knight so I'm gonna go out on a whim and say that _he_ can't be very far behind-" this was followed by a furious howling wail "It's too late, he's already here. Kwan take Star and get out of here, I'll hold him off."

"We're not going to just leave you." Star protested "I just…"

"I know, but I'm not going to lose. Even if I don't make it out of this fight I'll make sure he doesn't either no matter what it may take, now run!" he forcibly pushed them both down an escape hatch in the floor, leaving him alone "They're both gone now, it's just us."

"So it is." with a blast of fire, from the floor of the lab burst an older looking form of Danny Phantom, or Dan Phantom now, with a cape, flaming white hair and piercing crimson eyes, a malicious smirk plastered across his face "Hello Leonardo, and now it's time to say goodbye."

"Well one thing is for sure, I'm not letting you walk away this time." lightning charged in one hand, an Ecto Ray in the other, and he slammed them together "This ends today!"

"Is that right?" fire charged in one hand, an Ecto Ray in the other, and he slammed them both together "Well I can assure you that you won't be walking away from this."

"And as long as you don't that's damn fine to me!" Leo fired his blast, with Dan doing the same, the resulting clash destroying the Hunter lab and the entire house.

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From within the Ghost Zone, two ghosts known as Observants showed these events to a ghost known as Clockwork "Now do you understand?"

Clockwork turned to them and scowled "Yes, Danny Phantom grows up to be the most evil ghost on the planet. What do you want me to do about it?"

"You are the master of time Clockwork, is it not obvious? To save the future, Danny Phantom must perish!"

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The present day.

Leo burst out of his bed in a cold sweat, panting heavily ' _What the hell… No, get ahold of yourself Leo. It was just a dream, nothing more.'_ he looked at his clock ' _5:00 AM. Great, I don't need to get up for school for another hour and yet I still wake up in a cold sweat. I keep having that same dream over and over again every night._ What does it mean?"

"Perhaps I can explain."

Leo's head snapped to the right and he saw Clockwork materialize next to him, as well as noticing the clock suddenly freeze "Clockwork, I should've known. Been a long time."

"Not since you were 10 if I recall correctly, and I always do."

"What do you want?"

"For you to come with me." he held out a hand "There is a grave situation to prevent and I will require your help to make sure of this."

"...I want details."

"You will receive further details when we return to my lair."

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An assembly was in session at Casper High.

Mr Lancer spoke to the large audience "Your future is not carved in stone people, but it may be carved with a #2 pencil."

"Oh please." Tucker and Sam grumbled.

"Quiet!" Danny hissed "This stuff is important."

Lancer continued as if they hadn't said anything, since he didn't know that they did "As most of you have most likely forgotten, you will be taking the Career Aptitude Test on Saturday. Do well like Ms Fenton here who got the highest score in the history of the CAT, and a successful future will be assured. However, if you should fail like Irving "Third Degree" Burns here, who got the lowest score in the history of the CAT then you will be doomed to a career at the Nasty Burger."

"Hey, working at the Nasty Burger takes brains you know." Irving protested "I mean if those 42 Nasty secret herbs and spices in our Nasty Sauce are overheated then it could cause an explosion powerful enough to take out a whole city block." he received no reaction from the audience "Oh who am I kidding? My life is over."

"You said it Mr Burns, not me." Lancer held up the answer booklet "These aren't just the answers to the test people, they're the answers to your future. So study." he locked the answers in a briefcase and handcuffed that briefcase to his wrist "Do not forget that this is your future, do you want fries with it?" and he walked off.

Tucker noticed Danny looking spaced out like someone just kicked his puppy "Dude, are you okay? Danny?"

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Clockwork showed this to Leo, who was now wearing a Time Medallion, through one of his view screens "So you see the situation now."

"Yeah, the Observants are lazy f*ckers who won't get off their asses." Leo noted dryly "And that's why you have to do their dirty work.

"Rather vulgar but not inaccurate."

"But if they want you to take Danny out, not that I would let you, then why not just use this chance while I'm not there and he's not suspecting it?"

"Think about it for moment, he turns evil because he's under pressure for some test?"

"Hey to be fair Clockwork, you don't understand the mindset of a 14 year old like I do."

"A fair point. But fine, then I suppose it would be time for me to conduct a test of my own."

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"You'll see soon enough."

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Danny was in the kitchen working on a sample test for the CAT ' _Come on…'_ he reached to mark A for his first answer.

"Uh…" Jazz, who had been hovering over him, quickly covered her mouth.

He reached for B.

"Bu-"

He reached for N.

"Nnn…"

Three strikes and she was out, and Danny finally had enough "Oh for f*ck's sake I get it already, people like you and Leo are brilliant and I'm stupid and I'll never be able to get a score as high as yours was. Seriously, so far I'm not even qualified to scrape the grease off of the Nasty Grill."

"All I want is for you to succeed Danny, and doing well on this test is a big step towards that."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, there are 3 things I've learned in life." this part was mimicked by Danny "Study hard, do your best and-" this is where the mimicking stopped "Duck!"

"What?" then he got hit in the head with a boomerang "Ow! What the hell, a boomerang?" he threw it again.

"Yep!" this was when Jack burst into the kitchen "I call it the Boooooomerang, it locks in on the unique ecto signature of any ghost and seeks it out wherever it goes."

"Good to know." he promptly ducked to avoid it when it came circling back.

"Although why it keeps keying into Danny is way beyond me."

"Why don't you just have mom look into it?"

"Oh she's got a cold." then he looked over "What's that Dan, one of those stupid CAT tests? I failed that and I didn't turn out to be a cat." and he walked off.

"...Oh for- I give-" he suddenly froze, with Jazz doing the same just as she was about to sneeze.

"Time out!" that was when Clockwork showed up with Leo and another ghost "Alright, here we are."

"His dad's gone so now is the perfect opportunity." Leo noted "And remember, his sister knows his secret but he doesn't know that she does."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." so Clockwork placed one of his time medallions around the other ghost's neck.

That was when the other ghost suddenly came to "Huh? What the-? Where am I?"

"Amity Park before you were born." Clockwork pointed at Danny "That boy over there is part ghost and my employers believe him to be a threat to the world, would you be a dear and dance a little dance for us?"

"As if you'd have to ask."

"I thought so." he was about to hit the button on his staff.

Leo suddenly stopped him "Can I just say one thing about this whole situation?"

"What is it?"

"Just one word. Eww."

"Hey don't blame me, blame the ones who created her. Time in."

"That's just-" then he and Clockwork both disappeared.

"-up!" Danny suddenly felt his ghost sense go off ' _A ghost here? Now? I'd better hurry and get rid of Jazz._ Now get out of my room!"

"You're in the kitchen-" Jazz paused when she saw the ghost behind him ' _Oh, so he's just trying to get rid of me._ But if that's your attitude then I don't want to see you or anything you might do in here in the next several minutes!" and she rushed out.

"What the hell is with her?" Danny turned and let out a yelp when he saw the ghost, then promptly flashed into his ghost form "More importantly, what the hell is with you?"

The ghost's voice was incredibly cringey and familiar "I am Box Lunch, the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady!"

"...Okay first of all, eww to the third power."

"And now you will face the test of my box and lunch faced doom!" she suddenly summoned every single piece of meat from within the kitchen, conveniently contained in different forms of packaging, and formed a sort of meat transformer "And now- And you probably knew this part was gonna come- BEWARE!"

"So then you probably knew this was coming too!" Danny burst forward and tackled her out of the armor.

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Lancer was enjoying lunch at the Nasty Burger and frowned when he saw Tucker and Sam come up to him "Shouldn't you slackers be studying for the CAT's?"

"I've already studied." Tucker told him.

"Is that so?"

"I'm sure we'll do fine." Sam told him.

"Is that so? Well the test answers in this briefcase may indicate otherwise, enjoy your Nasty Burgers while you're still on this side of the counter."

That was when Lancer's burger suddenly flew off of the tray and into the air.

"Fast Food Nation!"

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By this point, Danny was now hovering above the Nasty Burger ' _So she's got the powers of both the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady rolled into one, but I guess that just means that I've got twice as much ass to kick.'_

"Prepare to taste your defeat, and perhaps a nice side salad with that." Box Lunch summoned all of the food from inside of the Nasty Burger.

"I'll pass."

"Then feast on my empty calories of doom!" she hurled all of the food at him.

Danny nonchalantly phased through them with ease "Oh come on, if you actually are the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady, which is still gross by the way, then you know exactly how this is going to end."

"Yes, like this!" Box Lunch slammed Danny through the roof of the Nasty Burger, scaring everyone inside into running away, leaving only the two of them.

Danny looked and saw the Nasty Sauce vat in the kitchen ' _Oh yeah that's right, that dead beat guy at the assembly at school today that if this stuff gets too hot then it could take out a whole city block. Idea forming.'_ he grabbed a small packet of Nasty Sauce and chucked it at Box Lunch's head.

"Prepare for- huh?"

"Hey Box Lunch, guess what? Beware!" he fired a simple Ecto Ray from his finger, overheating the Nasty Sauce and causing a much larger explosion then expected.

Despite turning intangible, Danny was still forced outside by the force of the explosion, also causing him to accidentally phase the CAT answer booklet out of Lancer's briefcase in the process, though he didn't notice it right away "Wow."

"Hey Danny, who exactly was that ghost that you were fighting?" asked Tucker.

"That was Box Lunch, apparently the only daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady."

"Yikes."

"I was thinking more along the lines of eww but I guess that works too, I don't know what's going on but I think this medallion might give us a clue." he picked up Box Lunch's time medallion off of the ground.

"Hey what's that on your back?" asked Sam.

"What are you talking about?" he pulled the CAT answer booklet off his back and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head "Oh my god, the answers to the CAT's."

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"So that was your grand plan." Leo noted "Put him in a position where he's perfectly capable of cheating to make sure he'll make the right decision."

Clockwork nodded "Precisely, the question is whether or not he _will_ make the right decision in the end."

"Oh come on Clockwork this is my protegee we're talking about, he'll make the right choice and the Observants don't have a damn thing to-"

" _Hello great future!"_

" _You're not actually thinking of peeking at the answers are you?"_

" _Of course I am, how could I not? I mean aren't you?"_

"Oy…" Leo slapped his face "So the Quantum Puba, what's your next plan to put him on the right path?"

"I know what I'm doing." Clockwork pulled up another viewing screen, this one of a futuristic looking Skulker "We put the answers to the test right in his hands and he made the wrong decision." he pulled up another screen, revealing Jack, Maddie, Tucker, Sam and Lancer bound to the Nasty Sauce vat, which promptly exploded, leaving Danny to look on in horror and grief at this "His future has been sealed."

"I'll believe that when I see it with my own eyes in person."

"...Always the optimistic one aren't you? Just like your father."

"You should know, you're the one who trained him in the art of ghost hunting."

"I saw great potential in the man, and even more so in you."

"Just like what I see in Danny, and once that future is prevented I'll make sure that he lives up to it."

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The next day of school came.

Sam immediately got down to business "So are you going to return the test answers or not?"

"Calm down, I'm going to." Danny waved her off "I'm just waiting for the right moment to do it."

"Like maybe after the test?" Tucker guessed with a smug grin.

Danny shot him an annoyed scowl.

"Yeah you're right, you definitely aren't thinking about cheating on a test that you're convinced will determined your entire future." he failed to notice Mr Lancer listening in.

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Having listened in on the conversation, Mr Lancer checked his briefcase and realized that the answer sheet was missing, so he asked Jazz to talk to him after school.

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Nightfall came.

Danny led Tucker and Sam up to his room to study the time medallion "Well Tuck, have you got anything?"

Tucker tried to hack into it, but failed "I can't seem to hack into it, whatever this thing is it's really high tech. It's like it's from the future or something."

"Oh well, anyway speaking for the future I think it's time I started preparing for mine."

"You mean to cheat." Sam pointed out.

"I never said cheat."

"You didn't say not cheat." Tucker pointed out.

"Guys come on, I would love to have spent the last month or so studying but I've been busy between training with Leo and beating the crap out of ghosts. Besides, if the two of you think this test is so meaningless then why does it matter to either of you if I cheat? Go ahead and give me one good reason not to open this up and study the answers huh?"

"Maybe because training with Leo would've made you grow up." Sam told him.

"Yeah, the guy that you've been hating on since he showed up 8 months ago for reasons that you refuse to tell me why. Seriously, even during the whole thing with the Ghost King you just gave some crappy excuse."

"..."

"No answer? Well that's all the answer that I need right here."

' _Danny…'_

"Aren't you going to say something?" asked Tucker.

"I'm his friend not his mother, if he wants to cheat then that's his decision." she shot Danny a dirty look.

"Fine." so Danny slowly and cautiously reached for the seal, but stopped "I can't… I can't do this. Look, if there's one thing Leo taught me is that reaching your goals means nothing if you don't work for it. Not that I have any idea where he is since I haven't seen him since he finished recovering from the whole thing with the Ghost King last week and he still hasn't come back to school."

"So you're not gonna cheat?"

"...No, I'm not. The only problem is, how am I gonna turn this back in without Lancer suspecting me of cheating-" he paused when he felt his ghost sense go off and he saw a ghost appear behind him "Great, another new one." he flashed into his ghost form and charged.

"I wouldn't be too sure ghost brat." the ghost backhanded him into the wall.

Danny quickly rebounded "And just who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"I am Skulktech 9.9, the future Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. **With its greatest techno villain as his operating system."**

"Skulker and Technus together? Okay I'm not gonna lie, that's a new one. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be eww or yikes. Or both."

Skulktech 9.9 sprung several robotic arms with claws from his back.

"Okay then, yikes it is." he phased through the claws and phased Tucker and Sam through the door, then phased back in "Now then, where were we?" he dodged more of the claws, resulting in his computer and desk being destroyed, but was backhanded into a wall and grabbed by one of the claws.

"Say goodbye **ghost child!"** he was about to finish Danny off, only to notice a notification on his right gauntlet "Someone's hacking into the system again? I thought we fixed that. **We did, we must've accidentally synced up with somebody else's PDA."** and then he was sent flying.

"...Well that happened."

This was when Tucker came back in with Sam "Wow, I can still hack into his operating system with my handheld computer. I'm not really sure if that's exciting or depressing."

"I say it's both now come on, follow me!" Danny phased through the roof.

"I think we'll walk." and so they did.

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Jazz was surprised to hear Lancer claim that Danny stole the answers to the CAT, but managed to defend him by claiming that Lancer didn't have any proof of this.

Conceding to this point, Lancer decided to give Danny until the day of the test to return the answers, but if he cheated then Lancer wouldn't just fail him, he would destroy his entire future.

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Skulktech 9.9 was sent spiralling through the skies of Amity Park out of control "What are you waiting for? Activate the Purple Back Gorilla override! **Don't tell me how to do my job!"**

"Come on Golden Girls!" Danny fired an Ecto Ray at him, hitting him dead on and sending him crashing into the Nasty Burger, unknowingly causing the Nasty Sauce to heat up further.

Skulktech 9.9 burst back up into the air " **Activating the Phantom Palm Pummeler!"** he fired a blast from his hand at Danny, shorting out his ghost powers for a few seconds.

Danny was able to quickly recover "You're shorting out my ghost powers?"

"Indeed we are, the Phantom Palm Pummeler might not work on you in the future but we had a feeling it would work on you here."

"The future? What the hell are you talking about?"

" **Oh man I love this, you're so much weaker than that other wretched Phantom that we always have to deal with."** he hit Danny with another blast.

"What are you two talking about?" then he started screaming and falling towards the ground, but he managed to catch himself on a flagpole "Wow, that flagpole thing really works? I thought it was just a thing used in cartoons and it would- BREAK!" yeah, it broke and he bounced off an awning into a pile of trash bags in an alley "Well I guess I don't have any sort of future as an olympic gymnast."

"Wrong!" this was when Skulktech 9.9 grabbed Danny with his Phantom Palm Pummeler "You don't have a future period, **not anymore that is!"**

"I wouldn't bet on that!" this was when Tucker showed up with Sam and shorted out used his PDA to short out Skulktech 9.9's suit, causing him to fall.

" **Oh** crap." lucky for him, he grabbed onto a flagpole " **Wow, that flagpole thing-"** it broke and he landed doubled over on a lamppost.

Danny gave a triumphant grin "Way to go guys, you really do come through. Now if you could see about getting this thing off of me?"

That was when Skulktech 9.9's time medallion fell off, teleporting him, along with Danny, Tucker and Sam, all of whom were attacked to his cuff, away.

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Danny and the others found themselves slammed into a wall, the cuff breaking off "What the hell?"

"Where are we?" asked Tucker.

"I don't really know, it looks like the Ghost Zone to me but it's not like any part of the Ghost Zone I've ever seen before. I think we were transported here right after that Skulktech guy's medallion fell off.

"Then I think I know how to get us back to Earth." Tucker took one of the time medallions hanging on the wall and put it on, only for nothing to happen "Nothing huh?"

"That's because we're already in our own time period."

Danny looked and saw Leo step out from the shadows "Leo?"

"Hey guys, been a week hasn't it?"

"Is this where you've been for the past week? Why the hell didn't you say anything?"

"Take a look through here." Leo pointed to a view screen.

"What the hell is this?"

"This is Amity Park, 10 years in the future." he pointed to where Dan was going on a rampage of destruction "Yeah that's how you turn out in the future, and to be honest you're kind of a douche."

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Future.

"Leave them alone!" that was when future Leo showed up in his ghost form "Our battle isn't over yet, I told you that I was going to finish you and that's what I'm going to do."

"We'll see about that." Dan promptly unleashed his Ghostly Wail, sending Leo staggering backwards despite his efforts.

However, Leo managed to force himself forward, lightning gathering in his fist "Wail on this one! **Roaring Thunder!"** he fired a blast of lightning from his fist, the blast pushing its way through the Ghostly Wail and engulfing Dan, electrocuting him just as Leo was sent flying back from the force.

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Present.

"Okay, you're actually a total douche." Leo corrected.

Danny was in awe at the sight of the battle "Wow, what is that? I mean I know about Leo and his lightning powers but I get some kind of Ghostly Wail? What a cool power?" he received a glare from Sam "If it weren't being used for evil."

"No you're right, it's still pretty kickass."

"Right? But seriously though, I become evil and you and I fight to the death? There's no way I'm going to let that happen."

"Which is why I'm here. Oh and by the by, duck." he force them to duck right as Skulktech 9.9 was flung through the view screen back to his own time "Just for the sake of being clear, I wasn't the one who did that."

"Leonardo speaks the truth." that was when Clockwork made himself known "I was the one who sent him back to his own time, or I suppose I should rather say forward to his own time. You see for me, time moves backwards and forwards and-"

"Clockwork give it a rest, they're underachieving 14 year olds."

"...Oh right."

"Who are you, where are we?" asked Danny.

"You want introductions? Very well then. I am Clockwork the master of time, I've been charged with the task of eliminating your future so that never happens." he pointed to the view screen showing the future where Dan and Future Leo continued their epic battle.

"You've gotta be kidding me, name one evil thing I've done in my life!"

He showed an image of Jazz finding the CAT answers in his backpack.

"...I bet you can't find two."

"I can find 1,200 but if I list them all then we'll reach that point in time before I get through with you, if it wasn't for the future Leonardo then it would be up to 2,000."

"I don't have to stand here and explain myself to you, I'm going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form and charged.

"Time out." Clockwork froze time and rewinded it to right before Danny transformed.

"I'm going ghost- Holy crap, serious deja vu." and yet he still went ghost and charged.

"Time out." this time he slowed down time so he could dodge the lunge "Time in." he put time back to normal, causing Danny to slam into a gigantic bell, and then had him ram into it over and over again.

"Looks to me like you're having way too much fun with this." Leo noted, unaffected due to the time medallion around his neck.

"Well to be fair I could do this all day, but I do have a schedule to keep." he unfroze time, causing Danny to fall to the ground, then picked up a scythe and charged at him.

Danny quickly regained his sense of awareness in time to avoid being hacked into bits by the scythe.

Clockwork then promptly stopped time again with his staff.

Tucker was taken by surprise, but quickly noticed something "Hey hold on a minute, how is it that he can freeze time for Danny but not us?" he looked and noticed Sam was frozen too.

"It's the time medallions." Leo told him "They make the people who wear it immune to Clockwork's powers, it's basically a get out of time free card."

"Alright, that gives me an idea." Tucker grabbed two more time medallions.

"Time's up ghost boy." Clockwork prepared to bring down his scythe.

"Nope." Leo promptly grabbed the scythe and stuck a time medallion around Danny's neck, snapping him out of it while Tucker did the same with Sam "Sorry Quantum Puba, but there's no sudden death overtime in this game."

"What the hell- What happened?" asked Danny.

"Simple, Tucker and I helped level the playing field. Let's just kick his ass."

Clockwork's eyes narrowed dangerously "The 4 of you have seen too much, you must be eliminated before you permanently alter the time stream." he summoned his counterparts from various different eras "Nowhere to run children."

"Nowhere in the present, but what about the future?" Leo pushed Danny, Tucker and Sam through the view screen, transporting them 10 years into the future.

"The question is, do they have what it takes to face that future?"

"If you want proof then how about I go myself and get that proof." without bothering to wait for a reply, Leo jumped in after them.

"We shall see soon enough."

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Danny looked around the future ruins of Amity Park right when Leo showed up "Woah…"

"Damn." Tucker muttered "If this is what we have to look forward to then I'm definitely not taking the CAT test."

"Don't remind me."

"How do you think this all happened?" asked Sam.

"I don't know, but based on what Leo showed up back at Clockwork's place, I have a horrible feeling that I'm the one responsible for all of this."

"You got that right mother f*cker!" that was when Future Leo burst out from the rubble, his pupils crackling with electricity, and he fired a Lightning Dragon's Roar.

Danny quickly dodged the blast of lightning "Leo? Look Leo, I need you to listen to me."

"Forget it Phantom, you tried that trick and played on my emotions once but I'm not going to make the same mistake twice!" he fired a furious barrage of Ecto Rays.

Danny managed to maneuver around them, though one of them grazed his shoulder "I need you to-"

"-to trap you like the wild animal you are? Fine! **Thunder Dragon's Prison!"** he quickly trapped Danny in a prison made of fire and lightning, burning him across his body "And now after 10 years, this nightmare ends! Goodbye and good-"

"Leo stop!" Sam and Tucker got in the way "Don't shoot!"

"Sam? Tucker? Alright, what the hell is-"

"Hold it." Leo stepped forward "You would recognize yourself don't you?"

"...Let me take a wild guess, Clockwork?"

"Yep."

"Figures, seeing Tucker and Sam alive is kind of rare nowadays. It's been a damn long time since I saw that."

"We're not alive?" asked Tucker "That's our future? Now I'm definitely not taking the CAT."

"The CAT, son of a bitch that brings back bad memories. That was actually the last time I saw you alive. Then there was that big explosion at the Nasty Burger, you guys and Danny's family, Mr Lancer… Oh crap, bad memories there."

"Is that right?" a green wall of flames appeared between them, courtesy of Dan, looking considerably beat up from his long and dragged out battle with Future Leo "Well they actually happen to be rather amusing, to me at least. And to you eventually." he unleashed a blast of fire, slamming the weakened Future Leo and floated down to the ground "Sam and Tucker, it's been a long time. 10 years to be accurate." he unleashed a blast with a sweep of his hand, freezing them in place even though Leo leapt out of the way "So to what do I owe this little blast from the past?"

"Take a look at their necks." Leo told him.

"What do you-" he noticed the time medallions around their necks "Of course, it's nothing but Clockwork meddling like always."

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** a blast of fire sent Dan slamming into a building, destroying it upon impact, courtesy of Future Leo, though he promptly fell to one knee.

Dan blitzed in front of him and slammed him to the ground "I suppose out of respect for our past and for you being my former teacher I really should let you live, but as I'm sure you know by now that's not how I work. **Fire Dragon's-"**

" **-ROAR!"** Danny broke free and unleashed a massive blast of fire as strong as he was able to muster, sending Dan tumbling back "Leo get your future self out of here, I'll hold him off."

"Sure thing." so Leo grabbed Future Leo and started flying off.

"So Clockwork sent you guys from the past…" Future Leo's voice was soft, barely a whisper to be heard "I should've figured… I was still good looking…" and he passed out.

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Dan backhanded Danny into a building and leered down at Tucker and Sam "You know, if I had even a single ounce of humanity left in me then this would be a very touching little reunion. But of course, I surrendered my human half a long time ago."

"HEY!" that was when Danny burst back up behind him, alerting Dan through his still present ghost sense.

"Oh please." Dan fired an Ecto Ray.

Danny fired an Ecto Cannon, both blasts hitting each other at the same time "Tucker! Sam! Run as fast as you can and let me deal with this guy!" this was met with Tucker and Sam running towards the abandoned Fenton Works.

"Run? Where are they going to go?" so Dan promptly unleashed his Ghostly Wail, causing the Fenton Works to start to come down on them.

"For the record Sam, I blame you." Tucker told her dryly.

"No!" Danny tried to rush towards them to get them to safety.

However, Dan caught him by the leg and smirked maliciously "I wouldn't if I were you."

Danny could only watch in horror as the building fell on them, and was electrocuted by Dan's Ghost Stinger, forcing him back into his human form, but once he was thrown to the ground he saw Tucker and Sam's time medallions "They took off their time medallions, that must've sent them back to our own time period just like with Box Lunch and Skulktech 9.9. Thank god, that means Tucker and Sam both made it back alive. That means that Leo and I can-"

"You and Leo can what?" Dan grabbed him by the arm "You can go back with those two? The both of them are doomed anyway, and if you can't remove your time medallion then that means that you can't go anywhere too." he promptly phased the time medallion into Danny's chest, causing him to scream in pain and lost consciousness "As a matter of fact, you aren't going anywhere at all.

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Sam and Tucker both materialized in the present outside the Nasty Burger ' _Oh thank god, it worked.'_

Tucker stopped screaming when he realized they were safe "You got the time medallions off of us didn't you?"

"I'm not the kind of person who accessorize well, but the problem is that Danny and Leo are still stuck in the future fighting that horrible evil version of Danny."

"With the good version of Leo don't forget."

"Yeah but we've gotta help them somehow!"

"Tucker, Sam, you guys got a second?" this was when Jazz showed up "Let me answer that for you, yes you do. I'm gonna be blunt here, I know Danny stole the answers to the CAT, that he's going to cheat."

"Actually Jazz the thing is that Danny actually chose not to-"

"Enough is enough Sam, I know more than you think I do and I mean a lot more so I suggest that when you see Danny you tell him I want to talk to him tonight because if I don't then I will be talking to our parents and Mr Lancer tomorrow." and he walked off.

"Wait a second, Lancer knows Danny has the answers?"

"Oh man is he in trouble." Tucker muttered.

"That has to be it, Lancer accusing Danny of cheating is what leads to that horrible future!"

"Wait let me get this straight real quick, Danny gets accused of cheating on a test and we have to pay for that with our lives? How the hell is that fair?"

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Future Leo bolted upright "Wha- Where-?"

"It's alright, you're safe."

Future Leo looked and saw Star, now with her hair in a ponytail and in a white blouse, sitting next to him "Star… Oh thank god, you're safe."

"It's you I'm worried about." she put a gentle hand on his shoulder "I saw your younger self, he's the one who brought you here."

"Oh… I guess I really was all about helping people back then wasn't I?"

"You were?"

"...Okay I concede, you're right just like always. Where is my younger self anyway?"

"Right here." that was when Leo came in, now in his human form "I never knew Star would turn out to be such a good cook."

"I haven't been able to eat in almost a month, my ghost form was all that kept me alive for a good long portion of these past 10 years. Not since Dan started rampaging across the world."

"Yeah, about that… What the hell happened? I mean what caused Danny to become evil, what made him rampage across the world for 10 years, how did everything turn out like this?"

"...Star could you give us a minute?"

"Take all the time you need." and Star walked out, leaving Leo and Future Leo alone in the room.

"Tell me, how much do you know already?"

Leo let out a sigh "Only what Clockwork showed me and he only showed me about half of what I need to know."

"...The CAT actually went pretty well for me, I ended up getting the 3rd highest score in the history of the test. I left Danny to his own devices that night and went out to celebrate with Kwan, Star and my brother, and I even ended up asking Star out, and we've been together ever since. All in all, it was a damn great night for me. I didn't learn until the next morning what had happened. Danny ended up getting the 7th highest and he did it without cheating, but the problem is that he forgot to turn in the answer sheet so Lancer was still suspicious of him. He called Danny and his parents down to the Nasty Burger to reveal his suspicions, and Jazz, Tucker and Sam went down there to defend him, but that was when it happened. The vat containing the Nasty Sauce overheated and exploded, and Danny was the only one to survive."

"So then-"

"3 days passed and Danny came by the house to say goodbye, since he was going to live with his godfather."

"Vlad?"

"Vlad. He said he was sorry for having me waste his time with such a sorry excuse for a protegee and he was sorry for letting me down, and then he left. That was the last time I saw Danny Fenton, and that was 10 years ago."

"But then, how did Danny turn into that guy?"

"...About 6 months passed, I started my junior year and me and Star were going steady, and the two of us, along with Raphael and Kwan, had become the sole protectors of Amity Park. Then came the day when _he_ showed himself."

"Dan Phantom."

"Yeah. He made it pretty damn clear he wasn't the same person he was the last time that I saw him, that was obvious when his first act was to brutally murder Valerie and her dad. It was a hard fought battle and in the end I was able to fight him off, but that battle broke pretty much every bone in my body. Everyone in the city saw me transform back but they saw me as a hero for protecting them. It didn't mean anything to me though, not when the guy who used to be my best friend and protegee would turn out to be my worst enemy. He showed up again about a year later after terrorizing a large portion of the rest of the world. I was preoccupied fighting the Fright Knight, so Raphael…"

Leo froze at that "You mean he…"

"He took out the Ecto Skeleton and tried to fight Dan off himself, to spare me the pain of having to put him down. He fought Dan with everything he had and he almost took him out, but he never perfected the neural receptors and the suit drained him like a battery. The Ecto Skeleton didn't come back from that fight, and neither did he. I've been fighting him alone ever since, and that was almost 7 years ago. I don't know what happened to Danny Fenton, I don't know if he's dead or alive or if the same could be said with Vlad for that matter but it really doesn't matter anymore. I have to keep fighting on my own for the sake of Kwan and Star, they're all I have left now and I can't lose them too. I just can't." he proceeded to bury his face in his hands, tears streaming down his face, and he gave bitter smirk "I must look pathetic to you, seeing your future self crying like this don't I?"

"...A wise man once said that when a man sheds tears it's not because they're weak, it's because they've been strong for too long." Leo let out a long sigh "Do you have any way to get me into the Ghost Zone?"

"You're thinking of going to Clockwork aren't you?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"...Here." Future Leo held out a device on his wrist, and a green light shot out from it, opening a portal to the Ghost Zone "Whatever you have to do just do it and make sure this nightmare never becomes reality."

"I will." he stopped, but didn't look back "And no matter what happens, I'll make sure that my bond with Danny stays intact too." and with that, he leapt into the portal to the Ghost Zone.

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Danny slowly opened his eyes, realizing that he was bound by a glowing green rope, and saw a statue of Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Jack and Maddie sitting in front of him "Mom? Dad? All of them…" he read the plague "Gone but not forgotten." he looked to the right and saw a statue of Mr Lancer "Gone… Poor guy, he really does deserve better. But then what about the Nasty Burger?" he looked back and saw the remains of the Nasty Burger.

"It's strange isn't it?" that was when Dan emerged from the ruins "Strange how one massive fireball of highly combustible condiments is so easily able to ruin your whole future."

"The time medallion?"

"Fused inside of your body, it's neat isn't it? Intangible and unreachable whether you're a ghost or a human, which means you can't go back to your time." he opened a portal to the Ghost Zone with one hand.

"I don't care if I can go back or not, no matter what happens I will never turn into you!"

"Of course you will." Dan reverted back to his human form at the same age as when he lost his humanity, a perfect clone so to speak "It's only a matter of time." he grabbed Danny and threw him into the portal "I need you out of my way and out of my hair while I make sure nothing happens to change my past, lucky for me this is all I need to make sure of that and to get to where and when I need to be." he held up a time medallion and disappeared back into the past.

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Clockwork received another annoying visit from the Observers and told them that everything was the way it was supposed to be.

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Dan materialized in the present time period and look at the Nasty Burger, or what was left of it, and smirked maliciously "The Nasty Burger, still standing, for now anyway."

"Danny!" this was when Tucker and Sam found him and hugged him "You made it back! Did you beat that evil, jerky, pus packed alternative version of yourself?"

Dan let out a chuckle "Always with the quips Tucker, in my weaker moments I sometimes find myself missing your droll sense of humor."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm just kidding, as a matter of fact I beat my other self quite easily. I really had you guys going there for a second didn't I?"

"Well we should probably do what we can to stop the Nasty Burger from blowing up right?"

"No need, I already took care of it. Now then, who's up for- _What did we used to do together? Oh yeah-_ playing some video games and raging against the machine?"

"We're in!"

' _Suckers.'_

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Clockwork didn't bother looking back to see who was there "I expected you to come Leonardo."

Sure enough, Leo stood behind him "So what did I miss?"

"Daniel has been cast into the Ghost Zone and his future self has used one of the time medallions to take himself to the present time in order to ensure his existence. Danny's sister is about to confront him."

"So we're gonna wait and see how this plays out?"

"I am, but you have another part to play in this. Look in your pocket."

"Clockwork this is a jumpsuit, I don't have pockets-" he reached into the side of his jumpsuit and got a surprise "Holy crap, when did I get pockets?" he pulled out a note "I know the future you which means I also know the past you, use this wisely- Kwan and Star." he pulled out what looked like a stopwatch "The Quantum Stopper, I read about it in one of my dad's journals. How did I my future self get this- Clockwork."

"Guilty."

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Danny floated helplessly through the future Ghost Zone "Come on Danny think, you've gotta find a way out of this. I'm going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form but found that still couldn't free himself of his bonds "Well it was worth a shot I guess."

"Well well well." a malicious chuckle could be heard behind him "All this time we've been planning on how we were gonna take the fight to you and now here you are wrapped up like a present."

Danny looked back and saw the future version of the Box Ghost, the one with whom he was currently on a collision course "Box Ghost?"

"Beware…" with a menacing tone of voice, Box Ghost hit Danny with an Ecto Ray, sending him flying backwards towards another future ghost.

Danny's jaw dropped at who he saw "Ember? Wow, you look-"

"I know." Ember snarled "I look like I went to seed right after you destroyed my vocal chords with that damned Ghostly Wail of yours?"

"Well I was actually gonna say statuesque but-" he was sent flying by a blast from her guitar and sent flying into the future version of Johnny 13, now stuck in a wheelchair "Johnny 13? Okay look, whatever happened to you I swear I had nothing to do with-"

"Save it, I've been waiting a long time for this punk." Johnny 13 promptly summoned his shadow.

"Oh crap, wait a second!"

They all surrounded him.

"No no no no no!"

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The present day.

Dan phased into his old room and looked around "My old room…" he peeked a look into his mirror "And my old face."

"Danny, we need to walk." that was when Jazz poked her head into the room.

' _And my old sister Jazz._ What do you want Jazz? I'm busy."

"Yeah I know, busy cheating." Jazz held up the answer sheet from his backpack "Lancer was right, you did steal the answers. Don't you understand?"

"Understand what, that I'll be destroying my future? You don't know the half of it."

"...Danny listen, I know more than you think I do."

"What are you talking about? _Seriously, what is she talking about?'_

Jazz let out a sigh as she picked up the boomerang "I know all about it, about everything you're hiding. I know that you're part ghost, that you were always doing the right thing with your powers, at least until now."

' _...Okay, I wasn't expecting that._ You knew?"

"I know, and I've been helping mom cover for you with Dad because I'm proud of you and all of the good that you've been doing, like with Leo and with everything else, but not anymore."

"Wait a second, Leo knew about this? He told you?"

"No, I figured it out on my own and he confirmed it."

"...You know you always were smarter than I gave you credit for." Dan promptly abandoned his disguise and revealed himself, shocking Jazz to the core.

"You're- You're not danny. That's why the boomerang wasn't homing in on your ecto signature, you're not Danny!"

"Well I used to be but I grew out of it, the Danny that you know is floating helplessly in the Ghost Zone 10 years in the future."

"He'll escape, he'll find a way to get back here and he'll beat you."

"Oh really, and just how will he do that? Is the answer A, the Fenton portal or the Hunter portals? Destroyed both of them, that was a good weekend. B, the only remaining portal, as in the one belonging to my idiot cheesehead archenemy has? Well forget it, as soon as I find it that's going too."

"Wait a second, cheesehead? Vlad Masters? You mean _he's_ your archenemy?"

"Is it C, you? No I don't think so, you can't stop me from cheating on the CAT and solidifying my future. So then I suppose that would leave D, none of the above!" he hit Jazz with a weak blast, knocking her out cold "D it is then." he broke the seal on the answer packet and looked at the answers "Well what do you know, the answer to the first question is D." he let out a malicious laugh.

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Morning came.

"Danny no don't!" Jazz bolted up and found herself in her bed "What the-?"

That was when Jack burst into the room "What's up princess, are you okay?"

"Wait a second, I'm in my bed and I'm alive?"

This was when Maddie came in and kicked Jack into the wall "Well of course you're in your bed and you're alive sweetie, Danny said you fell asleep helping him study and that he tucked you in."

"Danny?"

"He even woke up bright and early to make sure that nothing would happen to make him late for the big test."

"Oh no, the test! Come on mom, we've gotta move!" she rushed out of the room dragging Maddie and the boomerang with her.

Jack poked his head up from where he was embedded in the wall "What's with them?"

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"Jazz honey what's going on?" Maddie freed her hand from Jazz's grip while they made their way down to the lab.

"No time!" Jazz pulled off her headband and used it to tie a note to the boomerang "I need you to find Danny, 14 year old Danny, 10 years from now!" and she hurled it into the portal to the Ghost Zone.

"Jazz what is the matter with you?"

"Mom listen carefully, Danny is in seriously deep trouble and-" she was cut off by the stopwatch appearing on the ground in front of them "What the-?"

That was when it displayed a holographic image of Leo " _Hey Jazz, Mrs Fenton."_

"Leo? Okay what is going on?" asked Maddie.

" _I need the two of you to listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell you. I'm sending you guys a message from the future, this is actually the present me but I was sent 10 years into the future with the help of a ghost named Clockwork. I need your help because I can't go back yet, Danny is stuck in the Ghost Zone of the future and his evil future self is about to cheat on the CAT and then kill you two, Tucker, Sam, Mr Fenton and Mr Lancer so that he can solidify his own future."_

"Well I already sent a message to Danny in the future, it oughta tell him how to get back to this time."

" _Okay good, that saves us a step. Next I need the two of you to go to my house and find my brother, tell him about the situation and ask him about the Mark II and Mark III ghost hunting combat suits."_

"And then go down to destroy him at the school?"

" _No! He's not planning to do anything he doesn't have to, at least not yet. Don't do anything until he gets called to the Nasty Burger by Lancer. That's when you have to expose him, not a minute before."_

"Alright, we understand Leo."

" _Alright good, now go. And good luck, both of you."_ and the holograph disappeared.

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Danny was still being toyed with by all of the future counterparts of the ghosts, and was horrified to see them charging attacks to finish it "Please listen to me, I didn't do any of those horrible things to all of you. I swear it wasn't me."

Skulktech 9.9 let out a scoff "Oh just stop it, you're the one responsible for all of the horrible things that happened to your world and ours! **To everybody you've ever come into contact with!** Your family, your friends and most importantly all of us!"

"But I didn't do any of that!"

They all just ignored him and prepared to finish him with all of their strongest attacks, intent on finishing him off for good.

"Get away! Get away! GET AWAY!" that last desperate scream suddenly turned into a Ghostly Wail, sending all of the other ghosts flying back and vaporizing his bonds, as well as causing him to partially revert back to his base form "What the…" he transformed back "Oh that's just great, now my voice is changing? This day just keeps on getting better, now I'm going through evil puberty. Everywhere I turn my stupid future is bitch slapping me upside the head." guess what happened to him "Ow, dammit- Wait, is this the boomerang? A note?" he took off the note attached to the boomerang "Wait, this is Jazz's handwriting… Wisconsin? Plasmius, of course. I should've figured he'd be involved in this somehow."

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The present day, and the CAT was in full effect.

Dan was hiding the answers underneath his desk as he filled in the test ' _And who says cheaters never prosper?'_

Tucker and Sam were horrified when they saw this "Danny don't, if you cheat on the test then we're gonna-"

"Mr Foley, Mr Fenton." Lancer cut off their conversation "Is there a problem?"

Dan let out a sinister chuckle, his eyes flashing crimson for a brief second "No problem at all."

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Danny let out a sigh as he stared at the gigantic purple football in front of him "Well I guess that's Vlad for you, about as subtle as a flying mallet. Well either way he's my only chance of getting back home in time to stop my evil self." and he rushed through the portal.

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Soon enough, Danny found himself in a cave packed with equipment "Woah…"

"Come to kick a defenseless failure while he's down?" asked a hollow voice, void of any emotion.

"Defenseless failure? What are you-" Danny turned around he froze at who he saw "You're… me?"

Sure enough, before Danny stood Future Danny, though now with a prosthetic left arm and right leg "Let me take a wild guess, some kind of time travel stunt like in Doctor Who?"

"You're me… What happened to you- me- us?"

"I guess I could ask you the exact same question, but right now I guess it would be better to ask you what _hasn't_ happened to you. At least not yet."

"First I want you to tell me, did we cheat on the CAT?"

"...No, we didn't. I didn't. I pulled an all night cram session with Tucker, Sam and Leo and I ended up getting the 4th highest score in the history of the CAT, behind Leo and Tucker. But I made one fatal mistake that ruined everything, I forgot to return the answers so Mr Lancer thought I cheated and everything fell apart from there." a single tear fell from his cheek.

"You mean they…"

"Yeah. If it's any consolation they went really fast, none of them felt any pain. But unfortunately the same couldn't be said for me, I couldn't bare to face Leo after that seeing how badly I let them down. I left Amity Park, and with nowhere else to go I came here to the one person left in this entire world who could possibly hope to understand my situation. All I wanted was to make the pain go away, and I was so overcome with grief and misery I asked Vlad to get rid of my human half so that I wouldn't have any more painful human emotions to drag me down. Vlad honored my wishes and used his new and improved Ghost Gauntlets to rip my ghost half out of my body. Unfortunately, my ghost half went berserk and stole the Ghost Gauntlets, then used them to rip Vlad's ghost half out of his own body. Then for reasons I don't know and don't want to know, he tried to merge with Vlad's ghost half but was overwhelmed by the evil in it, creating the abomination I'm sure you've already encountered."

"So that's how it happened… But what happened to Vlad?"

"...Leo once told me that in life some things are better left unsaid, but he also said that just as many things need to be said. The new evil Phantom's first act was to try and murder me, but then something happened, something I would never have expected. Vlad jumped in front of me and sacrificed himself to save my life, and Phantom thought he had killed the both of us so he just destroyed Vlad's mansion and ran off to destroy the world for the next 10 years." Future Danny let out a long regretful sigh "If any good came out of this then I guess it would be that I found out exactly what happened to Vlad."

"What?"

"He told me with his dying breath that he was never evil, and that the accident my dad caused when they were in college that gave him his ghost powers almost 30 years ago also gave him some sort of split personality, with his ghost half becoming corrupted in the process." he buried his face in his hands, tears falling from his eyes "If I could do everything over then I would, I just wish I could've gotten the chance."

"Maybe that's all anyone needs, a second chance. But I need your help though, by any chance do you still have Vlad's Ghost Gauntlets?"

Future Danny's eyes widened.

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Dan slammed his test down onto Lancer's desk in front of him "Here."

Lancer's eyes narrowed suspiciously "Finished so soon Mr Fenton?"

"Is that a problem?"

"How should I know? I don't have all the answers. The question is, do you?"

Dan shot him a smirk and walked out of the room.

Lancer let out a sigh and dialed a number on his phone "Mr Fenton? It's Mr Lancer, could you meet me at the Nasty Burger at say 5:00 tonight? And bring Danny with you."

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Future Danny frowned as he put on the Ghost Gauntlets "So you're saying that there's some kind of medallion lodged inside of you body keeping you trapped in this time period?"

Danny nodded "That's right and I can't reach it myself, but I'm guessing that if Vlad was able to reach into me and rip out my humanity- which sounds totally disgusting by the way-"

"Oh please, try having it happen to you."

"Fair point, but anyway if Vlad was able to do that then you should be able to get the time medallion out of my body too and then I'll be able to pop back to my own time period just like Tucker and Sam did."

"Or I could just destroy you now and prevent this future, that thought never occurred to you did it?" and Future Danny brought the claws down, drawing screams from Danny in the process.

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Raphael heard the doorbell ring and made his way up from the lab "It has been 32 minutes, that pizza is free and those mozzarella sticks had better be-" he opened the door and his tone subsided considerably "Oh hello Mrs Fenton, Jazz, what brings you two here?"

"Raphael quick, are the Mark II and Mark III suits ready yet?" asked Jazz urgently.

"Well the Mark II is up and running but the Mark III won't be ready until at least next week, why?"

"We just got a message from Leo, it's urgent. I guess we'll have to go with this." she held out the Fenton Peeler Suit and handed it to Maddie.

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Jack pulled up with Dan in front of the wreckage of the Nasty Burger in the Fenton RV "Mr Lancer sounded serious on the phone, Danny is there anything wrong?"

Dan just smirked "Not yet." and they stepped out.

Mr Lancer was waiting for them outside of the building "Mr Fenton, Daniel, this is the Nasty Burger. When people fail the CAT this is where they end up, whether they fail because they don't study or because they cheated." he held up Dan's test.

"What?" Jack turned to look at Danny in disbelief "Danny is this true, did you cheat?"

"You have to get out of here!" this was when Tucker and Sam showed up "The Nasty Burger is about to and we're all 3 feet from the place!"

Mr Lancer let out a groan of exasperated frustration "South Beach Diet people, what in the world is going on here?"

"We'll tell you what's going on."

Dan whipped around with the others and saw Jazz and Maddie step up behind them, clad in suits of armor ' _Dammit, those two?!'_

"Or better yet, I'll show you!" Maddie quickly used the peeler effect of the Fenton Peeler Suit to peel off Dan's disguise and revealing his true form to everyone, leaving them speechless "That's not Danny."

"What?!" surprise turning into anger, Jack pulled out a weapon and aimed it at Dan "Start talking ghost, who are you and what have you done with my son?!"

Dan barked out a malicious laugh "You really don't get it do you you fat old fool? I _am_ your son!"

"What?!"

Dan rose into the air "What kind of father are you anyway? One of the world's leading experts in ghost hunting and you couldn't even figure out your own son was half ghost."

"For the record Maddie, I blame you." Jack told her dryly.

"Oh for crying out loud! Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom? Did you really never notice the similarity? Jazz did."

Tucker and Sam shared a surprise glance "She did?"

"I was surprised too."

"LIAR!" Jack roared "Don't move!"

"Actually nobody's going anywhere, at least not until it's time for you to be blown everywhere that is." he fired a strand of ectoplasm that bound Jack, Tucker, Sam and Lancer to the Nasty Sauce vat, as well as gagging them.

"Leave my family alone!" Maddie tried to strike him from behind.

Dan created a hole in his body, causing her fist to go through it "Points for effort mother, but not much else. But you see me…" he created 4 duplicates of himself "My future…" they took off her helmet and gagged her like the others "I'm inevitable." he bound her to the Nasty Sauce vat alongside the others "And then there was one."

"You leave my family alone!" Jazz fired a barrage Ecto Rays at him.

Dan phased through all of them with ease and grabbed onto the power orb on Jazz's chest, but was electrocuted by the blast, causing him to fall to one knee, but he almost immediately got back up and smirked maliciously "Of course, using an Ecto-Ranium ore as a power source, a typical trademark Hunter move. So you got a little toy from Raphael did you?" so instead he ripped the armor off of her using his telekinesis "Well if I can't have the Nasty Sauce do the dirty work then I guess I'll just have to kill you myself." fire began gathering in his hands and in his mouth " **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** he fired a Fire Dragon's Roar blast towards Jazz at nearly point blank range, leaving him laughing maniacally.

However, that was when a silhouette appeared within, a single stray yet clearly powerful Ecto Ray striking Dan straight in the face, sending him tumbling back.

"What the-"

"That was for hurling me into the Ghost Zone 10 years into the future." from within the green flames emerged none other than Danny, holding Jazz in his arms bridal style "And the beating within an inch of your afterlife that I'm about to give you is for trying to hurt the people that I care about."

"Danny…" from within Danny's arms, Jazz lost consciousness.

"I know Jazz, you did a good job. But leave the rest to me, I'll take it from here." he gently laid her on the ground to the side so she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, then quickly flew over to the others tied to the Nasty Sauce vat "You don't have to worry guys, no matter what happens I will never turn into that. I promise." he then turned to Lancer "I'm guessing this sort of explains my periodic absences right?"

That was when an annoyed Dan caught Danny in his ecto rope and grabbed him by the collar of his jumpsuit "You really know how to get under my skin don't you?"

"Well what are you gonna do to me then, kill me? Well if you do that then what's gonna happen to you?"

"You still don't get it do you? I'm still here, I still exist and that means you're still going to turn into me." he dealt Danny an ecto punch, sending him crashing into a light post "I don't have to waste you, all I have to do is run out the clock until your entire life falls apart right in front of your eyes." and he lunged at Danny full speed.

Danny phased through the ground and reappeared behind Dan "Well maybe if you had bothered to remember a little bit more about your family then you'd actually remember the important things like the Specter Deflector!" he dove under a lunge and snapped the belt around Dan's waist, causing him to cry out in pain "Or the Ghost Gauntlets!" he dealt Dan a hard uppercut to the jaw and smashed him down towards the ground, leaving him to crash into an oil truck that sat nearby "Or the things we learned from Leo, like this! **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** he fired a Fire Dragon's Roar, igniting the oil truck in a massive explosion that took out three of the buildings surrounding them, then went back to free the others.

However, Dan emerged from the flames, now sporting a few scorch marks, and ripped off the Specter Deflector, then grabbed Danny by the shoulder and threw him to the ground "Your time is up Danny, it's been up for 10 years. **Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!"** he dealt a swift yet powerful punch to Danny's chest, sending him tumbling back in a fiery explosion.

Danny stumbled out of the flames, his jumpsuit now in shambles as he fell to his knees and coughed up several amounts of ectoplasm "Dammit…"

"You really are a fool." Dan mockingly stepped forward "Tell me something, what makes you think you have any sort of chance of changing my past to begin with?"

"Simple…" Danny staggered back to his feet and spat out some more ectoplasm "I made… a promise… to my friends… and to my family…"

Dan barked out a malicious mocking laugh "Oh you are such a child, you made a promise?"

"Yes… I made a promise." Danny stumbled forward "And if you do… anything to my friends and family… if you lay so much as one finger on them…. I swear to you… I will… MAKE YOU SUFFER!" he let out a Ghostly Wail, the force sending Dan tumbling back into a divot in the street.

"That power… It can't be, that's not possible! I don't get that power until 10 years from now!"

"Well then… I guess the future isn't as set in stone as you make it out to be." with blue energy gathering in his eyes and hands without him noticing, Danny let out one final Ghostly Wail that sent Dan tumbling down the street and crashing into a building, which was promptly destroyed when he made impact with it, the wreckage freezing in the process, and Danny fell to his knees in exhaustion as he reverted back to his human form ' _Was that… some kind of ice power combined with my Ghostly Wail? Wow 2 new powers in one day, go figure.'_

A blast of fire destroyed the ice and Dan burst out from the rubble, now considerably scorched and bruised all over his body "Well that's it then isn't it?"

"Not until you tell me something."

"What could you possibly want to know now?"

"Why did you fuse with Vlad's ghost half after you were separated from me? You could literally have done anything else."

"Is that it?" Dan shot him a malicious smirk "Without your humanity holding me back I could easily absorb the powers and experience Vlad had gained from having his ghost powers for about 20 years, granted I never actually planned on my skin turning green, my hair being set on fire or any of this other stuff that I inherited from that fusion but I personally think the things that I've gained far outweigh the things that I've lost."

"Well agree to disagree, and guess what? Your time is up." and with that, Danny promptly sucked him into the Fenton Thermos.

"Too weak to escape, and you're too late to save them!" those were Dan's last words before he was sucked into the thermos.

Danny capped the thermos and smiled, only for the realization to hit him "Oh no." he started running as fast as he could, but found that he wasn't able to transform "I can't go ghost!" he tripped on some rubble and fell to the ground, right next to where Jazz lay unconscious, and he took her into his arms, tears falling from his eyes ' _I'm sorry everyone… I did my best but it wasn't good enough… I failed…'_ then the explosion went off, with brother and sister being hurled back by the shockwave, only for everything to freeze.

That was when Leo appeared on the scene with the Quantum Stopper in his hand, two time medallions in the other "Alright, time for senpai to make the save." he placed one of the time medallions around Danny's neck, the other around Jazz's neck.

Danny quickly came to, with Jazz following suite, both incredibly confused "Wait a second, Leo? I don't- What's going on?"

"Take a look for yourself." Leo pointed.

Danny looked and to his surprise and joy, he saw Jack, Maddie, Tucker, Sam and Mr Lancer all floating in a nimbus cloud unharmed "You saved them?"

"Well duh, you guys didn't think I was just gonna leave you high and dry at a time like this did you?"

"What- I- I don't understand." Jazz stammered out.

Danny nodded "Seriously Leo, not that I'm not grateful but what the hell is going on?"

Leo shrugged nonchalantly and shot them a grin "From what Clockwork has told me the Observants look at time like they're watching a parade, sitting on their asses and not doing a damn thing as one thing after another passes them by in sequence. Clockwork is the one who sees the parade from above, and that includes all of the twists and turns that it might or might not end up taking."

For once, Danny was the first one to figure it out "You knew all of this was going to happen, all of it! Even this part, and that's what you've been doing for the past week?"

"Everything is fine Danny, everything is the way it's supposed to be. That brings us to here and now with you, a 14 year old young man with incredible potential risking anything and everything to protect the people you care about."

"So what happens now?" asked Jazz.

"This is what happens." he tapped the button on the Quantum Stopper "Time in."

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Danny and Jazz looked around at their new surroundings "This is…"

"Yeah that's right, the CAT test about 2 hours ago." Leo held the CAT answer sheet booklet out to Danny "You've given everyone else in your life a second chance, the way I see it it's only right that you get one too." he wrapped his arm around Jazz's waist "Come on Jazz, let's give him the second chance he deserves." and they both disappeared, and time restarted once more.

Danny locked eyes with Tucker and Sam and shot them a gentle smile ' _This is your second chance Danny, a chance to do things right.'_

"Mr Fenton, is there a problem?" asked Mr Lancer.

"...Actually Mr Lancer, yes there is." taking a long deep breath, Danny slowly walked up to Mr Lancer and put the answer sheet on his desk "I found this the other day, outside the Nasty Burger after the explosion."

"I see." Lancer examined the answer sheet and his frown deepened "The seal is broken."

"Yeah I know, and I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself from looking at the answers. But let me just say this, I'm not a cheater and I never will be no matter what happens."

"Is that right? Well you'll have your chance to prove that when you take the make up CAT test next week, now won't you?"

Danny's face lit up "Really?"

"You'll have plenty of time to study for your makeup test in detention, but for now I am still conducting the CAT test so if you wouldn't mind?"

"Oh yeah right, but before I go about Leo-"

"When you see Mr Hunter tell him I expect him to be there to take the make up test next week as well, and in detention for missing the last week of school."

"Sure thing. Oh, and if you could give this to you know who when you're done." he gestured towards Sam and placed a note on Mr Lancer's desk, then walked out of the room with a smile on his face.

Lancer looked down at the note ' _Meet me outside when you're done, we have to talk about something important.'_ he shot a look at Sam.

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Danny sat on a bench outside the school and let out a sigh ' _At least I know the people I care about are safe for now.'_

"So you made the right choice?"

Danny looked and saw Leo sit down next to him, holding a large box and a paper bag "Yeah, for once I did. You know I really gotta thank you Leo, if it wasn't for you then I don't even wanna think about what would happen."

"Don't worry about it, that's what friends and the master and student bond are for." he put the box down and opened the bag "I figured we'd celebrate you conquering your evil self with some pizza and mozzarella sticks, I think you and I have both had more than enough burgers for a good long while."

"Yeah… you know to be honest, I can't even imagine my life without you anymore. I see you are more than just a friend Leo, now you're like a brother to me."

"And that's what brothers are for right?" cue the bro hug.

"Yeah, and us half ghosts stick together too."

"Danny?" a new voice cut in.

Leo looked back and saw Sam approach them "Oh my crap, I forgot the drinks. I'll be right back and leave you guys alone." and he flashed into his ghost form and blasted off.

Sam let out a sigh "Hey."

"Hey." Danny didn't look up from the pizza.

"So you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah." he looked her in the eye "Why do you hate Leo as much as you do, what did he ever do to you? And don't give me that crappy excuse you gave me before I left to fight the Ghost King, I want a real genuine answer."

"...You really don't know do you?"

"I don't have a clue."

Sam let out a sigh "Do you remember that time you and Leo went to that Humpty Dumpty concert?"

"Yeah, after that whole thing with Valerie. Look if this is about not inviting you-"

"No no, that's not it." she looked him sadly in the eye "That was my birthday."

Danny felt the horrible realization slam into him like a flying mallet "And Leo and I have been doing pretty much everything together and snuffing you and Tucker out. Sam that must've been horrible for you."

"Yeah, it was."

"I can't imagine how you felt. Sam I am so sorry, if there's anything at all I can do to make it up to you then just say the word and I'll do it."

"Just get over here you idiot." she caught him in a hug.

"So did Leo know?"

"Yeah but he promised not to say anything to you because he thought it would be better if you hear it from me."

"Yeah apparently he makes a lot of promises like that, he even promised not to say anything to me when he found out that Jazz knows my secret."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah I found it in her note." he held up the note "To be honest I'm glad she found out, if she didn't then I probably wouldn't have made it back."

"Danny?" a new voice asked.

Danny looked and saw Jazz approach them "Hey Sam, you mind getting us some napkins real quick?"

"Sure." getting the memo, Sam walked inside, leaving Danny and Jazz alone.

"So how long have you known?"

Jazz let out a sigh and smiled "About the test? I've known about that for days, but I'm really proud of you for not cheating and I guess I owe you an apology for thinking you would in the first place."

"Not that." he held up the note "I found your headband with your note in your handwriting."

"What, that? Oh I didn't write that, and there must be dozens of headbands-"

"Jazz give it a rest, you were there and you saw that entire fight. I know you were just pretending to be unconscious to try and get the jump on him."

"...Okay fine, I've known since that whole thing with Spectra. I didn't want to tell you until you wanted to tell me and Leo promised not to say anything, it's your secret."

"Well it's our secret now." and they hugged.

"But don't think this means I'm going to stop being meddling and overprotective."

"Oh I wouldn't have it any other way, I get enough of that from mom as it is though." then he frowned "The only question is, how am I gonna tell dad?"

"You'll know when the time is right."

"Yeah I guess I-" he paused when his Ghost Sense went off and he looked to see a gigantic tentacle monster chasing a cop car "Oh boy."

"Go ahead."

"Thanks, and keep the food warm. I'm starving. Going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form and flew up to the tentacle monster "Hey gigant green and gruesome, guess who's back and better than ever?" he dealt a single punch, accidentally covering Jazz in goo.

"...This is gonna take some getting used to."

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Leo stopped by Clockwork's lair in the Ghost Zone and handed him the Quantum Stopper "Here, I think it's best if you hold onto this. So how did the Observants take it?"

Clockwork let out a sigh "Well they accused me of cheating by having you manipulate Daniel and influence his choice, which happens to be a direct violation of the protocol of temporal displacement."

"Well I don't really think it matters, Danny's choice was his own in the end."

"As I told them."

"Still though, this means that now Danny is technically your responsibility along with mine, the same going with his future ball of sunshine self now that he exists outside of time thanks to that little stunt."

"I know, but then again I know everything." he placed the Fenton Thermos down.

Leo noticed the thermos bulging on the sides "Well I've still got an extra bag of mozzarella sticks, you want a few?"

"Don't mind if I do." he took one from the bag.

"You realize he could escape at some point."

"I do."

"But Danny is gonna keep getting stronger and if he does escape then he'll be ready."

"I know, and like I said I know everything."

 **A/N:**

 **Danny combining the Ghostly Wail with his Ice Dragon's Roar against Dan at the end of the battle is a nod to him getting his ice powers, which he will get earlier than in canon because I thought they had more potential than what we saw.**

 **I know I said before that last chapter would end the animosity between Sam and Leo, but I wanted to give it at least a little bit better of an ending.**


	8. More Valerie, Technus, New Powers

A typical day at the mall.

Sam was munching on a veggie burger and some fries by herself in the food court ' _Well at least it's better than listening to Tucker ranting about his tech and driving me to commit suicide. Why aren't I hanging out with Danny or the others again? Oh yeah, he said he was busy training with Leo.'_

That was when Valerie sat down at another table with Star and frowned in a disdainful way "Manson."

"Gray."

"So where's Danny? He with Hunter again?"

"Well not that it's any of your business Valerie but he said he was busy."

That was when Danny landed on the table in front of her, with Leo landing on Star and Valerie's table "Hey, how's it going?"

"What the hell?"

"That guy." Leo pointed upwards.

Technus floated down from above, a cocky smirk plastered across his face "Are you children out of your minds, picking a fight with me in my upgraded form?"

Leo let out a snort "Yeah sure, like a mullet is really an upgrade from your last hairstyle. If anything it's a downgrade." flashing a grin at Star, causing her to blush, Leo fired a barrage of Ecto Rays ' _The problem here is that Danny and I can't use any of our fire or lightning powers with so many bystanders here, if we use attacks as powerful as those then they could get hurt or worse.'_

Technus skillfully dodged all of them and created a barrier in front of himself using the surrounding technology "Is that all?"

"Far from it you 90's reject!" Leo burst forward, with Danny doing the same.

' _Looks like I get three for the price of one!'_ Valerie emptied out her backpack in an attempt to get out her ghost hunting gear ' _Oh dammit that's right, after that whole thing with the Ghost King dad took away my ghost hunting gear and locked it in his lab.'_ she was promptly knocked to the ground by a stray Ecto Ray for Technus.

"I am gonna break you in half you son of a bitch!" Danny charged at Technus in a rage.

"Temper child, temper." Technus materialized behind Danny and Leo and caught both of them with one hand for each of them, then electrocuted them "There's that emotion of yours again, and whether you know it or not emotion is your greatest weakness." and he threw them into a large pile of boxes and went into Valerie's phone.

"Move it, get out of my way!" Valerie forced her way through the crowd, only to find Danny in his human form lying among the boxes "Oh hi, didn't expect to see you here."

Danny gave a lame shrug "Not like I expected to be here."

"Nice, now I wanna hurl." Leo shoved Danny off of him.

"I've got you." Star helped him up, her voice too low for anyone but Leo to hear "Which one was that?"

"That would be Technus, the Ghost Zone's own digital cockroach. He hates emotions and after seeing that little love fest between Danny and Valerie he's probably gonna try and use theirs against them. We're gonna have to stay on our guard."

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Next day came.

Mr Falluca was bringing the Casper High students to Axion Labs for a field trip "Well class, it has been very kind of Mr Gray to give us a tour of Axion Labs."

Mr Gray nodded "My pleasure Mr Falluca, shields down please." the shields went down, but as the class went on he stopped Danny from joining the others "Danny, could you hold up for a minute?"

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Leo stared at a jetpack being displayed "Well this is awesomeness incarnate, this is the X-23 booster rocket that can launch a single person up into space in less than 2 minutes."

Star nodded "It is impressive."

"Yeah, and that thing over there is part of the cybertron mega computer, it's the hub that links up to the actual processing unit floating up in the Earth's upper atmosphere."

"But why would they put it in space?"

"To keep it safe, Star if someone got their hands on a computer as powerful as that one then they could use it to control pretty much every other computer in the world. You can't just let any random jackass get to it, I mean if Technus were to- Oh my god, I just figured out his plan." he looked and saw Valerie suddenly get trapped in a closet "But it's not like even he'd be able to get to it easily, I mean the only way to get to the main computer is through this hub and even then you'd have to get through a 10,000 digit security code."

"Why and how do you know all of this?"

"What do you think I do when I'm not doing my own thing or training Danny?"

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"Are you okay?" asked Mr Gray "You seem kinda nervous son."

"Well…" Danny looked up at a gigantic picture of Vlad above him "Well maybe just a little bit."

"Well I think you're a good kid and I know that my daughter is very fond of you." they started laughing awkwardly "Just be sure to do me a favor, keep your family's ghost weirdness away from my daughter huh?" and he walked off.

That was when Danny felt his ghost sense go off ' _Oh that's just great, well at least Leo's in there so I guess it's okay. The question is, what could this Technius guy be doing? Well Leo knows him better than I do so I guess I should let him take care of it for now.'_

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"Everybody single file, and run for your lives!" and they all started running in a gigantic panic while Valerie's suit, now being controlled by Technus, started trashing the entire lab.

' _And that's my cue.'_ taking advantage of the chaos, Leo hid and flashed into his ghost form, then confronted the suit "Hey."

The suit then took this as the cue to retreat.

"Out on a single word? Damn, she's gone faster than Raph's one night stands." and he took off after it.

Danny followed Mr Gray into the lab and took note of the chaos "Wow, what the heck?"

That was when Valerie finally got out and saw the chaos "Woah, what the hell happened in here?" she was promptly dragged away by Mr Gray.

"...Wow."

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From within the hub, Technus quickly discovered that he would need time in order to crack the 10,000 digit firewall code, so he attempted to distract Danny and Leo, and Valerie and Star would be the respective keys for that.

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Later, Leo was talking with Danny and Jazz about the incident at Axion Labs "I'm telling you guys something wasn't right, she's usually barking like an angry dog about finding you and then holding your head on an ectoplasmic pike."

"But she didn't say a word?" asked Danny.

"Not a single one."

"That doesn't really seem right to me."

"She was probably speaking with her gun." Jazz pointed out.

"Yeah but-" Danny looked and saw a notification pop up on his computer ' _It's a message from Valerie. Danny, are you okay?'_

"It's from her isn't it?" Leo guessed.

"Yep."

"Don't worry, we're gone." Leo promptly pushed Jazz out of Danny's bedroom before leaving himself.

"Thanks Leo." so he went to typing "I'm fine but I didn't know what to think, how about you?"

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The next day of school came.

Danny let out a yawn as he met up with Sam and Leo "Hey."

"Hey." Leo let out his own yawn "Long night?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yep, same reason as you?"

"Probably."

"You guys spend the whole night flirting with disaster?" Sam guessed.

"You know you really should give her a chance Sam, I know she wants to waste Danny Phantom and probably hates the Phantom Blade just as much but did you know that she's a 9th degree black belt or that or that her favorite fruit is cumquat just because it's a funny word?"

"No Danny I didn't, and that's mainly because I never really get past the part about her wanting to waste you."

"Well to be fair Star has never really earned your ire either." Leo pointed out "I spent a lot of time talking to her last night and did you know that she's got her own greenhouse or that her favorite color is sky blue? I mean sure she and Kwan used to be A listers but they actually have, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, souls."

"Where are Tucker and Kwan anyway?" asked Danny "I haven't seen either of those two in days."

"Oh they offered to be my brother's new lab rats to get some extra cash. Poor suckers."

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Valerie was walking through the hall talking to Star all about Danny, and in return Star was telling Valerie all about Leo "Did you know that he wants to be an astronaut and that he bowls a 150 average?"

Star shrugged "Well that's cool and all but did you know that Leo wants to be a teacher, that he bowls with a 170 average, that he's a huge Avengers fan?"

"So it looks like you've got your work cut out for you."

"What?" her cheeks turned pink "Well what about you-"

"Hey." this was when Danny and Leo came up to them.

"So…" Valerie awkwardly tried to find the right words "I guess they're hitting it off aren't they?"

Danny grinned "They? I didn't notice that there was anyone else here."

"Pretty cheesy Neil Armstrong, you got any plans for lunch?"

Sam was watching from afar and she was not amused "Are they out of their minds?"

"Come on Sam, just let it go." this was when Jazz came up to her "This is just freshmen puppy love stuff, at least in Danny's case. I'm sure this is gonna pass in no time, just wait and see."

"Oh I plan to, and you're sticking with me."

"...What?"

"Hey with Tucker and Kwan being test monkeys I need somebody to help me stalk."

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3 days passed.

Sam was still watching Danny and Valerie, along with Leo and Star, through a single pair of binoculars, with Jazz right behind her ' _It's been 3 days and so far they've been on a romantic candlelit dinner at a diner as a result of the power going out, winning tickets to a carnival at a baseball game, and the ferris wheel gets stuck in the two most romantic spots while the digital lights spell out her name.'_ she saw Valeir lean her head on Danny's shoulder "Oh yeah, of course that's where the ferris wheel stops. I mean why wouldn't it?"

"Sam you're being way too paranoid about this." Jazz told her "I mean it's not like they're gonna go steady or anything."

"Well maybe not but- Oh for the love of god will you turn down that static?"

"Sorry it's just my new watch, it's been going staticy at the weirdest times over the past couple of days." then she saw Technus in it "And now I understand why, it must be picking up traces of Technus. Something in this upgrade of his that Leo mention is making my watch go to static like this."

"Like at the mall, and the lab, and the ferris wheel! He must be trying to push Danny and Valerie and Leo and Star together!"

Jazz let out a chuckle.

"Okay if you're done then we have to Danny and Leo about this."

"You want to tell Danny and Leo that a ghost who hates emotions is trying to play matchmaker for them? Sam this is my little brother and his mentor we're talking about, how do you think they're going to react to you telling them something that sounds absurd as that?"

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So Sam was the one to tell them them when she saw them the next day at school.

Leo actually seemed a lot more serious about this than Danny did "You done laughing like an idiot yet?"

"No not yet." so Danny burst out laughing for another minute "Okay now I'm done."

"Thank you." so Leo turned back to Sam "It does sound absurd though, I mean you expect us to believe that Technus, a ghost who despises emotions more than anything else, is trying to hook us up?"

"Yeah and he's trying to play you guys by using yours against the two of you."

"Well that does sound like something he would do."

"Oh come on." Danny waved that off nonchalantly "Seriously, this is a guy who hates emotions in every way, shape and form."

"Danny you don't know Technus like I do, and this is exactly the kind of thing he would try to pull. Think about it for a minute, with the dim light and the stalled ferris wheel. I mean do you think the universe wants you and Valerie to become an actual thing?"

"Well I don't know, maybe. But I might." this drew a small gasp from Sam, as well as Valerie seeing how she was hiding in the bushes "But the way I see it I don't think it's really fair for you to be saying stuff like this Leo, especially since the same could be said for you and Star. Do you think the universe wants you guys to end up together?"

"Well… I don't know, maybe. I mean I told you what I saw thanks to Clockwork and now this whole thing with Tech-" he paused "Well technically Sam and I and everyone else just want you to be happy, right Sam?" he nudged her on the elbow "I mean if you're really serious about this whole thing then we're just gonna have to get used to her."

"And to be honest I've really got you to thank Leo, remember what you said about how a simple act of kindness going a long way? Well I guess it did. Anyway I'm supposed to meet up with her before class starts, I'll see you later for training Leo." and he walked off.

' _Curse my good heart and morals.'_

"Hey." this was when Valerie emerged from the bush "Leo, did you mean all of that?"

"...Well yeah I did, I mean Danny is my protegee and one of my closest friends and I just want him to be happy so if he likes you and you like him then I say the least we can do is give you a chance."

Valerie suddenly caught him in a hug "Thanks Hunter- I mean Leo, really."

"Don't worry about it, now please let go of me before you crush my lungs."

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Danny made his way towards the school "Some emotion hating techno nerd of a ghost trying to be matchmaker, get real." he heard a twig snap from behind him and quickly turned around, only to find nothing there "It's nothing. Get ahold of yourself Danny, you're just a little jumpy that's all. Sam was probably just being paranoid." he looked back again.

This time the suit rose up from the trees, being controlled by Technus "Hey."

"Though that doesn't mean that she's not right, Valerie isn't inside that suit is she?"

"No she's not, she's over there in full view." he pointed to where Valerie was waving at Danny, completely unaware of his peril.

Danny waved back nervously.

"You should run now."

"Way ahead of you." Danny started running full speed.

"Hey Danny, I just had the greatest conversation with Sam and Leo and-" Valerie was promptly ignored and was quick to realize the situation "That's my suit, and it's after Danny! Come on, please let there be something in here I can use!" she started digging through her backpack, only to see Leo speed forward "Leo what the hell are you-"

"Just stay back, I'll take care of it!"

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Danny was running full speed but still snapped his head back towards Technus "So you were pushing me and Leo together with Valerie and Star!"

"You're welcome!" Technus attempted to blast him with the Ecto Bazooka several times.

Danny leapt and rolled away from every blast, his mind racing for a solution ' _I can't use my ghost powers or I'll blow my secret identity with those security cameras watching my every move.'_

"You know I wonder who's going to miss you more, the angry ghost hunter girl, the annoying other half ghost who gave me so much trouble, or maybe it'll be the frustrated little goth girl who can't admit her feelings."

"What the hell are you-"

"You know what it's nothing you need to worry about now, because you and that other one are so through interfering with my plans!" he aimed an Ecto Bazooka at him.

' _This is bad.'_

That was when a stray Ecto Ray hit him, courtesy of Leo, now wearing two metal gauntlets, one for each arm, and slugged Technus in the jaw, sending him flying off the board "Don't just stand there Danny, run!"

"What? But-"

"Don't argue with me, just run and get help! _Come on, I can only make it so clear without blurting it out!'_

"...Oh, oh yeah! Just hold him off, I'll go get help!" and he quickly rushed off to where nobody could see.

"Good he's gone, now where were we?"

"I was about to get rid of a cockroach!" Technus charged him full speed.

Leo leapt upwards and dealt Technus a spin kick to the jaw "Don't forget you cyber cockroach, even without you know what I'm still a 4th degree black belt." he quickly ran and hid behind a lunch table, using it as a shield to protect himself from a blast from the Ecto Bazooka ' _Now to go on the offensive.'_ he blitzed forward and dealt Technus a severe uppercut to the jaw and to the gut, sending him tumbling back.

Technus rebounded before Leo could even hit the ground "It's over child!" and he aimed the Ecto Bazooka at him, intent on finishing him.

"Get away from him!" Danny suddenly appeared back on the scene in his ghost form and quickly pulled Technus away, sending him flying into a clocktower, but was blasted into a wall when he attempted to continue with his assault.

Now mute for some reason, the suit summoned its hoverboard and charged at Danny at full speed.

Danny phased through the attempted charge and began charging green flames in both of his hands and in his mouth " **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** he dealt the suit a massive blast of fire, destroying the hoverboard and sending the suit crashing to the ground ' _Valerie isn't in the suit right now._ That means I don't have to hold back! **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** he shot forward his fist and sent out a stream of green flames blowing a scorching hole through the right arm of the suit, as well as following up with a blast to the left leg "Alright punk, it's time for you to say goodbye!" and he dealt one final blast.

The suit fell to the ground in front of Danny's feet, only to being counting down.

Danny quickly took to the air right before the suit self destructed and exploded, scattering its remains all over the street.

Valerie rushed out and cradled her suit's remains, her face appearing demoralized ' _My suit…'_

Danny looked and noticed the bell going off "I've gotta get going." and he quickly took off.

' _He's gone…'_

"Looks like he left." this was when Leo made his way back over "Sorry I couldn't save your suit, you alright?"

"He was trying to do that to me… That could've been me, but it wasn't."

"Well at least you can prove it." Leo pointed to the security camera.

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Realizing that Leo was indeed right about her having proof, Valerie used the video footage from the school security camera as proof that she wasn't the culprit behind the accident in Axion Labs and showed it to Damon.

With the truth now revealed and the suit destroyed, Damon apologized for not believing her and decided to let it go.

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Nightfall came, and a discussion in the Fenton Works living room was well underway.

Danny explained the situation to Leo, Jazz and Sam and what he heard from Technus, looking notably downcast as he did "And that's everything he told me."

Jazz frowned in thought for a moment as realization dawned on her "Of course, that must be the reason. This Technus ghost must have been the one behind the attack during the tour, which means his goal must be to crack the code in the main hub and geup to the main computer in space so that he can use it to control every other computer in the world."

"You only know that because you heard it from me." Leo pointed out "Hey Danny you alright man?"

Danny let out a long sad sigh "You saw Valerie's face Leo, I'm sure she thinks that I was trying to waste you and her."

"But you weren't."

"But that doesn't matter now Leo, if I want to ask Valerie out then I'm gonna have to never tell her about either of us being half ghost."

"Well that can wait for now, right now what we should focus on getting rid of that annoying virus called Technus once and for all."

"Yeah you're right, but if he really is aiming for that big computer in space then our next move should be to stake out Axion Labs."

"And knowing Technus as well as I do he can only decode about 2,000 digits of the code for that firewall per day so he's most likely gonna be finished tomorrow night. That's when we have to make our move."

"Agreed."

"Hey Danny!" that was when Jack burst into the room "Word on the street is that you've got yourself a girlfriend. So can the rest of you leave so I can have a totally awkward father son chat?"

"Gone and gone big guy." Leo promptly left, with Jazz and Sam going their own separate ways as well.

"Alright, where were we?"

Danny winced internally "Does it really have to be awkward?"

"Oh you bet it does, I'm going to give you some much needed fatherly advice and then I'm gonna say something that's gonna make you cringe and run out of the room in embarrassment."

"Check, can I get the advice first?"

"Alright, well if you really like this girl Danny then you should let her know and give her something like this." he held out a ring.

"A class ring?"

"Absolutely, Danny a girlfriend isn't a girlfriend until you give her a class ring. It also says that you think this girl could be the one you fight ghosts with. Well at least it did for your mom, I don't know how appropriate that would be for you."

Danny let out a chuckle "Oh trust me you'd be surprised, but I can really give her this?"

"Only if she's really special, I'm sure Sam is gonna love it."

"Yeah- Wait a second, dad it's not for Sam!"

"Of course it's not, you and her are just friends. I even had it engraved for you."

Danny looked and saw _SAM_ engraved on the ring "Of course you did."

"See that was the embarrassing thing."

"Of course it is."

"Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for pie." he coughed out what sounded like "Clueless" and walked into the kitchen.

"I am not clueless!"

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Leo found himself sitting in the kitchen with Raphael over a plate of Mozzarella sticks "So why are we having an awkward brother to brother conversation?"

Raphael shrugged "No reason other than the fact that you looked so down on yourself even though you saw Tucker and Kwan streaking out the door like a couple of jackasses. Talk to me, what's the matter?"

"Well… I should've known that everything with me and Star was just Technus pushing us together, how could I let my guard down like that? I mean part of me felt like something was off but I- I guess part of me was caught up in the moment."

"Or that part of you realized that you have feelings for this girl."

"...Okay fine, maybe I do like Star but I've always told myself that my ghost hunting duties come before my personal life. How could I let myself screw up so badly?"

"Leo it doesn't matter if you're a half ghost or anything like that, the fact of the matter here is that you're still a freshman in high school and you're only 15. You're bound to make mistakes in life, the key here is to make sure you learn from them."

"Well yeah that's nice and all but sure, maybe I do like Star but what the hell am I supposed to do? I mean it's not like I was lucky enough to get the girl talk from dad."

"Well I did and I can tell you what he told me. If you really like this girl then I think you should go for it, maybe you can give her something like this." he held something out and placed it on the table.

"A diamond necklace?"

"Dad told me that a girlfriend isn't a girlfriend until you give some sort of gift to express your affection for her."

"And you think dad would be cool with me giving her this?"

"Only if she's special, he also said not to bother unless this girl is the one you think is really the one."

"...Thanks for the talk bro, but I'm not gonna say anything until this whole thing with Technus is put to rest. Still though, that's pretty wise considering how young you are."

"Hey I'm out of college!"

"You graduated high school at 15 and finished college at 17 despite spending most of your time in both cases being a man whore without actually having sex, and right now you're only 18."

"What's your point?"

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The next night came, and the group (Danny, Leo, Jazz and Sam) had begun a stake out from outside Axion Labs.

Danny handed headphone sets to Leo, Jazz and Sam "Here, you guys take these."

"Why the Fenton Phones?" asked Sam.

"Because once Technus leaves the building we need you to let us know. Oh, and hold onto this okay?" he handed her the class ring and flew off, with Leo following.

"Those two really are way too clueless." Sam looked at the class ring, only the engraving was upside down "Who the heck is Wes?"

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Leo led Danny into the lab's cafeteria "Hold on."

As it turns out, Valerie was having an awkward talk with Damon "This isn't going to be one of those awkward father daughter conversations is it?"

Damon shrugged "Probably. You know you seemed pretty worried about that Fenton kid, and that Hunter kid too."

"Well Leo is an alright guy but I do like Danny a lot, maybe enough to give up ghost hunting."

Hearing this, Danny managed a small smile ' _She'd really give up ghost hunting for me?'_

" _Clueless 1 and Clueless 2, this is Goth 1, over."_

' _Crap!'_ Leo and Danny both phased out.

Unfortunately, this didn't stop Damon and Valerie from hearing them "Did you hear that?"

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Leo led Danny towards the lab while remaining invisible and intangible "Goth 1 this is Clueless 2- Wait a second, I get why Danny is Clueless 1 but why the hell am I Clueless 2?" they phased into the lab "Alright, we're in."

"Right." Danny grabbed the X23 Booster Rocket "So how does it looks?"

"Well from the looks of the computer Technus is still in there, that means we still have time but not much. My best guess is we have less than a minute before he finishes cracking the code. That means we've gotta hurry and find a way to get him out of there."

"Or we can just use this thing to get up there and blow that thing to bits and hopefully Technus too if he gets inside it."

"But to be fair they'd be really pissed about us blowing up their computer?"

"Vlad owns this thing and he's a billionaire, it's not like it's taking that much out of his pocket."

"...Yeah that's true."

That was when the door opened and revealed Valerie and Damon, both of them looking particularly pissed off "You two!"

"Oh god dammit."

"Get away from that!" Damon fired at both of them with an Ecto Gun.

Danny quickly leapt out of the way of the blast "Listen to me, there's an evil ghost in that thing that's trying to take control of your computer satellite!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, and we're looking at him!" Valerie snarled.

"And you expect us to believe you?"

"You see why I need to hunt these ghosts? They think they can just run around doing whatever you want but somebody has to stop them!"

" _An excellent idea!"_ a blast from a nearby security camera suddenly engulfed Valerie in a white light.

"Valerie!" Damon looked on in horror.

When the light dissipated, Valerie was clad in a new suit of ghost hunting armor "Oh yeah, now this is what I'm talking about."

Leo let out a sigh "Nothing ever goes our way does it?"

" _And it's about to get worse, Technus just finished cracking the code and now he's hacked into the satellite!"_

"Oh boy."

"What's going on?" asked Danny.

"It's too late, he broke through."

Sure enough, Technus appeared on all of the screens " _It's over children, you don't have a chance of stopping me now!"_

"We'll see about that you annoying 90's reject!" Danny donned the rocket and a space helmet and took off full speed, phasing through the roof in the process.

"Oh you are not getting away!" Valerie summoned her new hoverboard.

"Valerie, get out of that suit!" Damon ordered.

"I will, as soon as I get that ghost!" and she took off, blasting a hole through the roof in the process.

' _Valerie…'_

"Wow." Leo muttered "You ever get the feeling you've suddenly become much much less important than you're supposed to be?"

"All the time."

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Danny was flying full speed up into the sky and having the time of his life "Hey check it out, I'm an astronaut! This is awesome!"

" _Hey stupid, you reading me?"_

"Loud and clear Leo, and I'm having the time of my life!"

" _Good to know now stay alert stupid, you've got company."_

"Company? What kind of company?" he dodged a stay blast.

" _It's your girlfriend."_

"For f*ck's sake Leo, she's not my girlfriend until I give her the ring!"

" _This isn't the 1950's you idiot, go for something more modern yet just as classy like a diamond necklace or something!"_

"You know what this super intelligent conversation is gonna have to wait, I'm in the upper atmosphere." he shut off the jets so he wouldn't fly off into deep space.

"You're not getting away this time ghost!" Valerie quickly controlled herself to an extent and fired an Ecto Ray, the force pushing her back due to the lack of gravity.

Danny narrowly dodged the blast, but looked and saw Technus flying above him firing blasts at every screen and computer in the world, causing all sorts of chaos ' _I've gotta finish this fast before he does something seriously dangerous.'_ he fired a barrage of Ecto Rays, but none of them did any damage ' _Okay, plan B then.'_

"Gotcha!" Valerie caught Danny in her board and activated her Ghost Stinger "I told you I wasn't gonna let you get away."

"Let… me… GO!" Danny suddenly unleashed a blue Ecto Ray from each hand, blowing both of them away and leaving Valerie frozen on several parts of her body and unconscious, much to his horror ' _Did I…? How could I…? No, pull yourself together Danny. You've gotta finish this and you've gotta finish it now! There's only one way to do that.'_ he turned on the jets on the X23 Booster Rocket and set them to overload ' _Just like with the Nasty Sauce, too much pressure and heat and it'll take Technus out for good!'_ he phased out and freed himself from the rocket.

Technus gladly swallowed the X23 Booster Rocket, but this caused the satellite to explode, destroying it and undoing everything Technus had done.

' _Perfect, it worked just like I thought it would. Now to hitch a ride back to Earth.'_

This was when Valerie finally came to ' _What the- Where did he-? Dammit don't tell me he got away again! Fine, another day then.'_ and she made her way back to Earth, unaware of the fact that Danny was hitching a ride on her board while he was invisible.

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The next day came.

Sam handed Danny the class ring "Alright, here you go. Are you sure about this?"

Danny nodded slowly "Well yeah, I mean she said that she was willing to give up ghost hunting for me. Besides I like her and she likes me back, isn't it supposed to be that simple?"

"This is high school in Illinois." Leo pointed out "You'd have to be a complete idiot to think it's that simple."

"Hey that's not-"

"Danny?" that was when Valerie came up from behind him and put a hand on his shoulder "I think we need to talk."

"Oh hey, I'm glad you're here."

Leo motioned for Sam to leave as he did the same, giving Danny and Valerie some much needed privacy.

"So listen, I actually wanted to ask you something."

"Actually me first." Valerie let out a sigh "Danny look, I've had a lot of fun these last few days but my life is just way too complicated right now for us to be anything other than friends."

"Just friends? But I thought-"

"I thought too, but there's something really important that I have to do and I don't want you to get hurt because of it. Besides, it's not like you were going to give me some lame class ring or anything right?"

"...Yeah right, so lame."

"Bye Danny." she kissed him on the cheek and walked off, and once she was behind a wall she activated her new suit, sparing Danny one more sad glance, and then she took off.

Danny sat down on the bench and hung his head "Well that's just great."

Sam walked back over and put a hand on his shoulder "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah I guess." he handed her the class ring "You mind hanging onto this for me?"

Sam accepted it and sighed "So clueless." and she walked off.

' _And now I'm alone again.'_

"Hey." Leo sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah I guess, but you know maybe it's for the best."

"How do you figure?"

"I mean keeping her away will probably keep her safe from the hell that is my life."

"What are you-"

"Every day I have to fight, not only to survive myself but to protect the people I care about, being hunted on both sides and having to go home and lie to my father in an attempt to get out of blowing off school, dealing with unexplained injuries and having to deal with him having no idea what I go through. I'm serious Leo, even you have no idea how infuriating it is to know that I might be the only thing standing in the way of oblivion and knowing that while I can fight it I can also become it. To know that if I make just one wrong move then I might end up turning into him."

"...That's what this is about? You're still afraid of yourself?"

"Of course I am, you get that better than anyone."

"But none of them are afraid of you."

"I know they're not but sometimes I wish they were, they should be afraid and frankly I think you should too Leo."

"I'm not."

"But you should be! Leo you saw me, you saw my future self. You saw exactly what I would become, what I did, hell your future self was the only one who could stop me! I destroyed almost the entire world in less than a decade, and that evil is still inside of me. If I let myself go even for a second then I could still become him and, oh my god the things that I could do." his voice was becoming wrecked and wracked with strangled sobs "And the worst part of it all is that I still might become him."

"No you won't." Leo clasped a firm hand on Danny's shoulder "Do you really believe you should be afraid of yourself, of what you might become? Danny everyone is capable of great things whether they're good or evil and you are no exception, yes you have a right to fear your future but you don't have the right to be afraid of yourself. As long as you believe in what you do then you shouldn't have to worry about your future, after all you yourself told me once that you create miracles based on what you change so get ahold of yourself. Tell me something though, if you believe yourself to be evil then why keep going, why fight?"

"...I don't know, I fight so I can protect the people I care about, so that the innocents don't have to get hurt. I fight not because I can, but because I will."

"Then tell me one more thing, do you regret it?"

"No, not a bit of it."

"Danny you're a hero, and as long as you're a hero you will be forced to question the true faces of good and evil. But remember that no matter what happens I will always be here for you, and so will Tucker, Sam, Star, Kwan, my brother, Jazz and your parents. All of us. You are who you choose to be and not what anyone or anything makes you, don't forget that."

"...Thanks Leo, I guess I really needed that."

"Hey what are brothers for?" he caught Danny in a bro hug.

"So what about you then, are you gonna tell Star?"

"...No not yet, I'm gonna wait until the time is right."

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 **(New Developments)**

The depths of the Ghost Zone.

Danny felt the sweat dripping down the side of his head "Okay Fenton, you've looked evil in the face and defeated it time and time again. You can do this."

"Are you ready?" asked Leo.

"More than ready."

"Alright then." he pulled out a poorly drawn map "Okay so I think we take a left at Skulker's island and a right at Walker's jail."

"Are you sure it's not a left at Walker's jail and a right at Skulker's island?"

"No I'm pretty sure I'm the one that's right in this situation."

"Yeah, just like always right?"

"Well I'm usually not one to brag but-"

"Hey guys." this was when Kwan pulled up behind them in the Specter Speeder "So are we ever gonna go home or are we still just gonna keep playing lost in the Ghost Zone?"

"For the last time Kwan we're not lost, I know exactly where we are thanks to this expertly drawn map made by my brother- Okay yeah, we're lost. Anyway this is all part of training to be more efficient with fighting ghosts, we have to be sure to know the enemy's territory inside and out. We'll just keep mapping out for another half hour or so and then we can head home."

"You mean so we don't have to rely on your brother's drawings." Danny looked and saw two ghosts flying off somewhere "Might as well ask them for directions. Or we could just follow them, I mean they're bound to lead us somewhere." and he took off, with Kwan following.

"...Why is it that I'm the only actual adult in this city sometimes?" Leo followed after them into an icy tunnel "Weird, I don't remember seeing anything like this before in my other trips to map out the Ghost Zone."

"Well these guys obviously know their way around, we should be out of here before we even know it." he crashed into a stalagmite, with Leo and Kwan both crashing into different stalactites, sending all three of them crashing to the icy ground beneath them, leaving the Specter Speeder severely damaged in the process "Ow…"

"Are you guys alright?"

Kwan scowled and shrugged slightly "Well aside from getting lost and almost being killed, not to mention having no way to get home? I'm doing alright."

"...Well it could be worse."

"Yeah but the Specter Speeder is trashed." Danny pointed out "My dad is gonna have my head for this." then he heard snarling and looked back to see a gigantic snow beast standing behind him "And clearly he's not the only one."

"Looks that way. Wait now I recognize this place, this is a realm in the Ghost Zone known as the Far Frozen. They're yeti like ghosts with powerful ice manipulation abilities. That means that you're a good match for him, and this oughta be good training so have fun." he leapt off to the side.

"Thanks a ton Leo!" note the sarcasm "Alright good boy, nice boy."

The creature snarled and charged at Danny.

"Lay down!" Danny fired a simple Ecto Ray, sending the creature back into a cliff and trapping it behind several stalactites like a sort of protective cage ' _I can't use my fire powers recklessly, I don't wanna hurt the guy._ Okay very good, next time we'll work on teaching you to fetch the paper."

The creature furiously threw one of the stalactites at him.

' _Scratch that!_ **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** Danny breathed out a large blast of fire.

The creature unleashed a blast of ice from his eyes, freezing the flames solid, and threw one of the frozen flames at the cliffside above Danny, burying him under a large pile of snow.

"Wait a minute…" once he saw the icicle embedded in the creature's back, Danny fired off a quick finger beam, freeing it from the creature's back.

The creature's growling abruptly stopped "The pain, it's gone!" he let out a loud jovial laugh as he picked Danny up out of the snow and hugged him "Thank you!"

"Wow." this was when Leo stepped forward "A boy and his arctic bigfoot, I don't think there's any greater love to be found anywhere in this world or ours."

"To what kind souls do I owe this great debt of gratitude?" the creature brushed the snow out of their hair and his eyes shot wide when he saw them "You? The saviours of the Ghost Zone?"

"Wait hold on a second, saviours of the Ghost Zone?" they shared a confused look.

"Well to be more accurate, the saviour of the Ghost Zone and his teacher." he bowed to the both of them and got on one knee "Oh Great One and Wise One, please behold your humble servant. I am Frostbite, the leader of the Far Frozen."

"...Huh, that's a new one. Frostbite right? Would you mind giving us a hand with somehow repairing our ship and helping our friend back there before he starves to death? I mean sure we packed snacks but he tore through them like 2 hours ago."

"Rest assured wise one, it would be my honor to assist the two of your and your comrade in arms." he picked up the Specter Speeder, with Kwan still inside mind you, and placed Danny and Leo on each of his shoulders "To my village shall we go, and a great feast shall we have!"

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Soon enough, the group had arrived back at the village of the people of the Far Frozen, with a feast being prepared and some of the scientists of the tribe working on repairing the Specter Speeder.

Frostbite led Leo, Danny and Kwan into a shrine inside a cave "This shrine is dedicated to you oh Great One and Wise One."

Leo checked out some carvings on the cave "Hey Danny, come take a look at this."

Danny checked it out himself as the realization dawned on him "Oh so this is why they think you're some kind of Wise One, because you trained me."

"I thought that was obvious. Anyway that's why they think you're the saviour of the Ghost Zone, because you defeated the Ghost King. Look here, this carving is of you trapping him in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep and me locking him in there. That's awesome as hell, in the land of ghost yetis we're some kind of legendary heroes."

"Okay that is pretty cool."

Frostbite bowed to both of them "It is my hope that our humble tribute pleases the both of you oh Great One and Wise One."

"This all really cool and all Mr Frostbite but the thing here is that we kind of got lost while we were trying to map out the Ghost Zone and-"

"Excellent!" he led them into the back of the cave and used his claw print to open up a glowing golden chest, revealing a strange green and white map "Behold the greatest treasure of my people, the Infi-map."

"Wait, is this really the Infi-map?" asked Leo "As in the legendary map that can lead the user to any entrance anywhere in the entire Ghost Zone? The one that my dad wrote about in one of his journals?" he pulled a journal out of his back pocket.

"The very same, we have been guarding it for milenia." he placed a finger on the map, revealing several hidden doors.

"Awesome."

"Wait, you said any entrance right?" asked Danny "I thought my family's portal, your family's portal and Vlad's portal were the only entrances."

"The Earth has a lot of natural entrances to the Ghost Zone that can only be revealed by the Infi-Map, for example one that you guys might find very familiar. The Bermuda Triangle."

"So that was the cause of all of the mysterious disappearances." Kwan realized "Everything that goes in there comes here to the Ghost Zone."

"Exactly. Travellers pass through pretty quickly until they find their way back to Earth but they might not find themselves in the same time period they were from to begin with."

"So the map not only leads you to Earth, but through time too?" asked Danny.

"The Ghost Zone is constantly shifting and every entrance with it so they appear in a bunch of different periods, most of these entrances only stay open for a short time before closing forever."

"The Wise One speaks the truth." Frostbite confirmed for him "In the wrong hands this map could be very dangerous and you must never stray from its indicated path which is why I shall escort you home after the feast."

"Oh great, thanks. So which way are we gonna have to go?"

"The map is capable of reading the mind of the user, I shall simply speak where I wish to go and the map will take us there."

"That reminds me, my father mentioned something else in his journal. He said something about the map possibly being sentient in some way, what's that about?"

"...Your father was the noble warrior Benjamin Hunter was he not?"

"That's right."

"Well no other human ghost hunter would be able to conduct such extensive research of anything in the Ghost Zone. Anyhow the map is mysterious, though it can lead the user where they wish to go it sometimes takes the users where it feels that they need to go."

"Sire." that was when one of the yeti men approached "The feast is ready."

"Excellent. Great One, you and your friend go enjoy the feats to your heart's content. Wise One, may I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure." so he stayed behind as Danny and Kwan went to enjoy the feast "So I take it you sensed it? That Danny has a lot more in common with you than he thinks he does?"

"Indeed I did, and it's only a matter of time before that trait manifests itself."

"It did once during a battle a few weeks ago, I don't think he remembers much about it though."

"He has great potential to become even stronger, and you do as well. With the proper guidance you both shall become the most powerful ghosts of all, half ghost or not."

"Let's hope for everyone's sake that we're both right about that."

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About 3 hours passed.

Leo met with Star outside of his house "So what was so urgent that you needed to talk to me right after I got back from mapping out the Ghost Zone?"

Star let out a sigh "Well I'm just kind of concerned, see it's my dad."

"What about him?"

"He wants to meet you."

"...Oh crap."

"I had to tell him ike 3 times that we're not dating. Don't worry, he's not one of those crazy TV dads who tries to drive away any sort of boy even if they are just my friends."

' _Well that helps, just f*cking spectacular._ What did you say he was like again?"

"Well he really wasn't around that much after my mom died, they were both bank accountants and when she died he took up her job and started working twice as hard just so he could keep me in the A List. I felt so guilty about that but the A List was all I had until… well until you came along and showed me what it was like to have real friends."

"Uh huh."

"Look he thinks you're a good guy based on what I've told you about him so far, he knows that you spend a lot more time with me and Danny and the others than at home with your brother which he interprets as you being very independent. He's not like one of those crazy overprotective dads on TV or anything so don't worry about that, he just wants to get to know you a little better."

"Oh. Well I guess-"

"Thanks, he's expecting you tomorrow night at 5." she pecked him on the cheek.

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Danny burst out laughing when he heard about this "Oh man you're screwed."

"Yeah well at least my future girlfriend's parents don't hate me." Leo pointed out.

"So what? They hate everything."

"True."

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 **(Urban Jungle)**

The next day came.

Star watched as her venus flytrap devoured a fly "Hey take it easy Venus, that's your third fly this morning and you know you're watching your cholesterol. Now then, just gotta take care of lunch and I can head out." she picked up her basket and picked off an orange from one of the trees "Thanks sunny." she picked some grapes off of another tree "Merci Pierre." she picked some herbs off of another plant "Arigato Yoshi. It's nice when countries can come together for a mutually beneficial cause, that being my lunch."

That was when Kwan came in, with Leo staggering behind him "Hey Star, you ready to go yet?"

"Close the door, cold air is bad for the plants. The humidity just opens up their pores, then again I guess it would help you sweat off a few pounds Mr Steak for Breakfast?"

"And the problem with that is?"

"Hey… it's his choice…" Leo wheezed out "Why should we… question it?"

"Are you alright?" asked Star "I mean you look like you're pale as a ghost, no pun intended or anything."

"I don't… really know… Ever since… I got up… this morning… it's been… really hard… for me… to catch my breath…" he took a huge breath for a moment "I'm probably just coming down with something."

"I'm sure you just need to take a day off from training or so, too much of anything is bad for anybody. Come on guys, we'd better get moving."

"Yeah… right…" he and the others failed to notice a gust of wind blowing through the greenhouse as he made his way out.

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Nobody ever said there was such a thing as too much progress right? Well tell that to the sweaty fat guys with the chainsaws destroying nature throughout Amity Park, chopping down trees and the like for the sake of a new construction project.

"Talk about urban blight." Star muttered "I'm so thrilled to be living in the 21st century."

"You should… be saying that about… 2017… specifically." Leo wheezed out.

"Well I'm definitely thrilled." Kwan told them "I mean just look at that new arcade in the new strip mall next to the new hot dog place, it looks as awesome as it does new."

"I rest… my case…"

"Oh come on guys, there's nothing wrong with a little progress. Besides, the mayor's new beautification campaign is really progressive."

"I say it's just progressively worse." Star commented "I mean seriously guys, messing with nature too much can be a seriously dangerous thing."

"You mean… like that?" Leo pointed to where large plants and other things were bursting out of the ground.

This was followed by a plant ghost named Undergrowth bursting up from the Earth "Flesh dwellers, you have caused pain to my children once too often! Now you too shall feel pain, the pain that is the mighty Undergrowth!" he then proceeded to destroy the equipment used to destroy the plants and trees and the like around the area.

"Wow…"

"I don't suppose anybody has a weed whacker?" Kwan muttered.

"Pitiful human race, hear me!" Undergrowth let out a violent hiss "Your progress has destroyed acres of my children, and now I shall destroy all of you to make room for my new offspring!"

"Uh, if I may…" Star spoke up "I completely understand where you're coming from in this situation but there are much better ways to go about this like how you could start a non profit or organize a petition."

"Silence!" Undergrowth hurled the construction equipment into the sites for the new buildings, destroying them entirely.

"Or you could destroy things, I guess that would work too."

"It's… Phantom Time…" with a mighty gasp for air, Leo flashed into his ghost form and charged forward "I'm all for… a green thumb… but this is… way too much!" he unleashed a blast of fire, incinerating one of Undergrowth's arms "And now you… don't either…"

"Leo!" by this point Kwan and Star were wrapped up in vines and the forklift that was being carried by Undergrowth was falling towards them.

"No! **Lightning Dragon's Roar!"** Leo unleashed a blast of lightning, destroying the forklift almost instantly.

"Foolish human!" Undergrowth regenerated his arm.

"You said… your name was…. Undergrowth right?" Leo fired another blast of lightning, once again taking off one of his arms "Looks to me like… you're overgrown…" he finished the onslaught with a blast of fire to the face, blowing Undergrowth's head clean off.

Undergrowth renerated all of the damage he took with ease "You cannot destroy a being who is able to regenerate himself at will!" he summoned several venus flytrap monsters.

Leo was able to quickly outmaneuver the plants and charged at Undergrowth as he prepared a massive blast of fire "You can't regenerate if you're a burning pile of ash!" but then the fire burned through all of his oxygen and he began gasping for air "Dammit… not again… at a time like this.." he was promptly grabbed and tangled up by the plant monsters.

Undergrowth grabbed Kwan and Star while they were trying to run away as well and held them up to his face, along with Leo "Such limited life forms, although instant destruction is an option I feel that replanting would be more… productive." he started releasing some form of spores as his head split open.

"Crap, these are… sleep spores… Well at least… they're full of… ginkgo biloba…"

"Rejoice, for a new era is about to take root."

Then Leo saw everything go black.

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Leo's eyes shot open and he found himself bound by vines to a gigantic tree "What the hell is going on?"

"About time you decided to come to."

Leo looked down and saw Danny bound right below him, with Tucker and Kwan both being bound to their right "Let me guess, you tried to fight Whiskers the Wonder Ficus on your own too didn't you?"

"Yep."

"Got your ass kicked?"

"Yeah, and while I was fighting I kept feeling some kind of cold sensation."

"Try gasping for air the entire time. Anyway, you try breaking out of these vines?"

"Yep, it turns out they're like steel cables with sap and they're blocking out our ghost powers. I already tried a couple of times."

"Well that's just great."

"Yes." that was when Undergrowth appeared in front of them "The growth is far stronger than any meat creature could ever hope to be, no matter how powerful they may think they are."

"And I'm gonna go out on a whim and say that these ghost plants are blocking our ghost energy and elemental fire and lightning powers?"

"Exactly. Perhaps one day you will see that this is what nature had intended all along, for mankind is nothing more than a mere temporary weed in the garden of life and weeds can be easily removed."

"Let me make something clear to you ya damn ficus, Team Phantom doesn't bow to anyone or anything, especially not a plant! Even if we can't even wiggle our fingers or anything."

"You are quite pessimistic but still accurate child, observe what has become of your once proud and progressive metropolis." he pointed to where all of the civilians of Amity Park were being connected to and controlled by a large plant brain of some kind "The Mind Vine enables me to control the every movement of the inhabitant. Why should I burden myself with the task of bringing destruction to your city when I can have its own citizens do all of the needless labor for me? Once the way is cleared my children will be planted and be allowed to grow anew. My will and my consciousness shall spread throughout every corner of the globe, and the concrete jungle shall soon become a real jungle!" he hissed out a malicious laugh.

"It doesn't matter how hard you may try." Danny told him "You can't win, even if we can't stop you someone else i-is g-going to."

"Really? Now who might that be?"

"Th-This town is home to some of the best ghost hunters this world has to offer!"

"I know." he pointed to where Jack, Maddie, Raphael and Valerie were being controlled by the Mind Vine.

"Dammit not them, let them go you son of a bitch!"

"He's controlling everyone, we're the only ones left." that was when Leo felt the horrible realization hit him "Wait a second, where's Star and Sam? What the hell did you to them?!"

"Oh of course, the females. Every garden needs at least one caretaker." he summoned 2 large and mutated looking flowers from the ground, revealing the plantified versions of Star and Sam inside of them.

"Star… Wow, green is actually a really good color on you.

"The shared love for vegetation makes these two the perfect choice candidates to rule alongside me. I can easily show the two of them the ropes, or vines so to speak in this case."

"Now come flesh walkers, your bodies are needed for work." Star sent one of the vines forward at them.

"Great, vegetables and work. Two things I hate more than anything else-" Kwan was promptly cut off when the Mind Vine connected to the back of his neck.

"Another one secured.

"Kwan…" Leo gasped out.

"And for nourishment." Star sent forward a gigantic plant monster, with Sam doing the same with her own.

"Back… away… FROM US!" Leo suddenly let out a burst of wind, severing the vines and freeing himself.

"BACK OFF!" Danny unleashed a burst of ice, freezing and shattering the entire tree and freeing himself in the process "S-So what n-now?"

"As much as… I hate it… we have to… retreat…"

"Wh-What?"

"Face it Danny… as we are now… we can't beat them… We have to go… we have to live… to fight another day… Now come on…" he started flying off at full speed.

"R-Right." a shivering Danny followed him.

"We have to… split up… that way we… might be able to… confuse them…"

"STOP THEM!" Undergrowth bellowed.

"Crap…"

Sure enough, Star appeared in front of Leo, with Sam appearing in front of Danny "Come and join us boys, the Growth is family."

"I think we've both already got one but thanks for the offer, and I'm still working the bugs out of his!" he severed the vines with his wind powers and took off into the skies, with Danny doing the same.

"At least they can't reach us up here." Danny noted "There's no such things as flying plants."

"You idiot, you just jinxed us!"

"There's no such thing as jinxing!"

That was when Undergrowth appeared in front of them "I am everywhere!"

"...Then again, I have been proven to be wrong before."

"Come on!" Leo pulled Danny off of the scene "He might be everywhere out here but there's one place in the city he definitely can't be!" he blasted their way through a thick layer of vines and weeds and threw Danny down through a manhole into the sewers, before he suddenly began gasping for air "Need air… can't stay airborne…" he phased down into the sewer and fell onto the side next to the water, gasping for air "Dammit…"

That was when Star emerged from the sewer tunnel in front of him "Become Leo, become part of the Growth."

"Gotta… keep moving…" Leo kept running through the sewers as fast as he could until he reached a manhole covered and climbed out into the open streets of Amity Park, right in front of his house actually "I have to… get inside…"

The vines burst out of the manhole cover and grabbed Leo by the ankle.

Leo unconsciously let out a blast of wind that severed the legs and phased through the door inside.

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Within a matter of seconds, Leo found himself in the lab, the portal wide open "The Ghost Zone… it's my… only chance…" he freed himself with another blast of wind.

That was when Star appeared in front of him "Stay Leonardo, stay and rule with me."

"I always did think you ruled Star… just like like this. But no matter what happens… I will be back… I'll save you… everyone else…" he phased through the vines and ran forward as fast as he could "I PROMISE!" and he dove head first into the portal, leaving Star alone in the ghost lab.

With a snarl, Star began covering the entire lab in plants and vines.

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Leo was slowly floating through the Ghost Zone, his mind racing "There has to be… someone… who can help me…" he soon found himself slamming head first into a gigantic rock skull and crashing to the ground, out cold.

After a few moments, a single metallic figure found him ' _So that power has finally manifested itself… Benjamin my old rival, your son truly does surpass expectations.'_ he slung Leo's unconscious form over his shoulder and walked away into the thick bushes and trees of the island.

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Leo's eyes suddenly shot open and he found himself in a strange cylindrical chamber "What the- Where the-"

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

Leo looked ahead and saw Skulker standing in front of him "Skulker? Hold on a second, where am I? And where the hell are my clothes?"

"This is a medical facility on my island and you're floating in what you humans might refer to as an Oxygenation Chamber, it's meant to help people with the same condition as you and when they're about to pass out or suffocate. You can thank your father for this one."

"Wait a second… Skulker, you knew my dad?"

"Knew him?" Skulker barked out a laugh, taking Leo by surprise "I can't begin to tell you how many times he and I had crossed paths in his day. I remember during his college days when he perfected his own ghost portal after the fiasco that created Vlad Plasmius, he found himself exploring when I came across him. We fought it out and in the end he eventually managed to corner me, though instead of capturing me he let me go. We fought many times over the next 10 years or so, with him almost always cornering me in battle and coming out on top, and he even told me when you and your brother were born. The last time we met was about 4 years ago, when he decided to test himself against me one final time before retiring from ghost hunting completely."

"My dad was about to what?!"

"He said he wanted to let you decide your own destiny instead of just following his example. A long and hard battle was fought, but in the end he beat me once again. Before he departed he made one final request."

"And that is?"

"That if anything should happen to him and your mother then I would look out for you. I was bound by the hunter's code and honored his request, and while I was checking on you once I actually came across the other ghost child."

"You mean Danny."

"Exactly. Anyway your clothes are in the wash, you had a lot of vines and thorns and the like stuck in your shirt. As for what happened to make you like this, well that's something you're going to have to tell me Leonardo."

"Hey cool, you called me by name." he received an annoyed glare "What happened, right. Well it's nothing good I can tell you that much. Amity Park and all of the people in it except for me and Danny have been completely overrun and taken over by Undergrowth, some kind of freaky psychotic plant ghost."

"Undergrowth huh?" Skulker displayed a hologram of Undergrowth "I've heard a great deal about Undergrowth, he's a powerful one no question about it. He's capable of regenerating himself and producing numerous killer offspring, and because of that he's nearly impossible to defeat. I know this because I tried to hunt him one and I barely escaped from the battle, he's not someone to take lightly."

"Yeah tell me about it, Danny and I both tried to double team him but I don't really remember very much once the lack of oxygen started getting to me. That's actually weird when you think about it, I mean aren't plants supposed to create oxygen?"

"They are, which actually confirms my suspicions." he went over to an x ray chart "From what I've observed so far your central core reading is indicating an extreme level of pressure as if your body is self generating it and forcing out a large majority of potential oxygen. I actually sensed this within you back during that mess with the Ghost King."

"But I don't understand, how is this possible?"

"You can turn invisible, pass through solid objects, emit beams of energy from your hands, create weapons out of said energy, and generate powerful fire and lightning blasts, and yet you ask how this is possible?"

"Wait, you mean I'm getting some sort of new air manipulation ghost power?"

"Precisely. Though new to you it may be I can assure you that it is an ability quite familiar to me, I happen to have recently perfected it." he summoned a small tornado in his hand and morphed it into a sword "The other ghost child on the other hand-"

"-is developing ice powers, I figured as much when he started turning into a human icicle and when he fought his evil future self. Anyway back to these wind powers, can you teach me?"

"Call it repaying a favor to your father, we'll start when your clothes are ready."

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Soon enough, the time to train had arrived.

Leo was once again gasping for air and saw several cameras surrounding them "Why… are there… so many… cameras…"

Skulker barked out a laugh "I can imagine that a lot of ghosts here would be interested in seeing the likes of me train you."

"You mean… they're hoping… I'll mess… up, right?"

"Well of course, I mean to be fair a lot of them hate you. Now then, your first lesson is to stop panting like a dog."

"I… can't…"

"This is because the pressure is contained within your body and ever since you acquired your ghost powers you've only been letting it out in small amounts, even more so than your fire and lightning powers."

"Like… when…?"

"Every time you sense a ghost is nearby."

"My… ghost sense? That's been… a part of… this wind power… all along?"

"The same with your fire and lightning abilities, I mean you have noticed how your ghost sense can change colors haven't you?"

"Yeah… but…"

"Nevermind that, now you have to learn to let it out all at once. Now you have concentrate, let the pressure and energy build until it has nowhere to go but out."

"Okay… here goes…" so Leo took in as much air as he could and let out a roar, sending out a blast of air that blew away all of the trees and bushes on the island "Hey cool check it out, I can finally breathe again! Alright, way to go Skulker! Skulker? Where'd you go?"

Skulker waved from where he was embedded in the ground.

"Oh. Crap."

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Lesson 2.

Skulker stood behind several targets "Alright, now manipulate the air particles and fire a series of air spikes into each target and be sure to hit the bullseye."

"I'm on it." so Leo fired a series of air spikes, accidentally hitting Skulker in various uncomfortable parts of his body "Oops."

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Lesson 3.

Skulker fired off a disc from a catapult "Blast it back towards me with your air manipulation."

"Right! **Wind Scar!"** Leo unleashed a large stream of wind from his Spirit Sword, cutting through the disc and shattering it, as well as sending Skulker flying into the gigantic skull, shattering it "Oops. Hey Skulker you alright?" he received only a groan in response.

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Soon enough, the training was complete.

Leo was preparing to make his return "Well I guess this is goodbye for now, but I have no idea how I can even begin to thank you enough for everything you've done for me."

Skulker let out a grunt as he tried to make minor repairs to his armor "Save me your gratitude, I'm merely honoring the hunter's code and repaying a debt to your father. But then again, if you wish to thank me then use your new powers to rid your city of that irritating ghost weed that infests it."

"Yeah I know, it's just… What if I can't beat him, if I can never go home again? Maybe I could just stay here with you?"

"No!" that sounded increasingly rushed "Look fear is natural in anyone, but what makes you and that ghost child heroes in your world is how you both charge into battle against all odds despite the fear. The same could be said for your father. A hero must always believe that he's going to win, and with your new powers that just may help. Do not forget that you are the one who controls the power, it does not control you. Don't come back until you win."

"...You can count on it." with his confidence reassured, Leo took off for home, intent on finishing this fight once and for all.

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Soon enough, Leo entered through the ghost portal and held up a small green flame in his hand, lighting up the dark lab and revealing it to be covered in plants "Son of a bitch, if this is what the lab looks like then I can't imagine the rest of the town." he phased through the roof, unaware of the vines watching him from within the darkness.

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Leo soon found himself flying through the streets, with them and the rest of the town being covered in vines, only to find himself struggling for air again, but he was able to quickly get himself under control ' _No Hunter, remember what Skulker said. I control the power, the power doesn't control me._ Wow, talk about urban blight."

"More like an urban jungle."

Leo looked back and saw Danny floating towards him "So you finish your training with Frostbite and the good yeti people of the Far Frozen?"

"Yep, what about you?"

"Well I met Skulker on his island and he helped me to train in my new wind and air manipulation powers. Get this, apparently he and my dad were old rivals."

"No kidding."

"Yeah I know-"

"Danny? Leo?" two voices called in the distance.

"And I think we have our targets. Come on, let's go." he started flying in the opposite direction.

"Right." Danny quickly followed after him "This place is deserted, no sign of human life anywhere. Maybe we should try to find the others."

"Well that's where we need to go." so they continued onwards towards a gigantic purple tree that stood in the center of the city.

"Leo, Danny." from within the tree emerged Star and Sam, both with new appearances and both still being controlled by Undergrowth "Welcome back, we thought the two of you were gone for good."

"Listen girls, we have to hurry and get you out of here."

"No, we like it here." Sam told them "Undergrowth has made all things new. These children need us, we're their new mothers."

"What? That's totally hypocritical of you, you won't even babysit your cousins." Danny pointed out "You know what forget that, we have to hurry and get the hell out of here. Where's everyone else?"

"Why they're right here." Sam snapped her fingers and summoned various plant pods, revealing the people of Amity Park bound and trapped inside.

"Our friends? Our families? All of the people? What are you doing?"

"They will all be used as nutrients for the children, all that matters now are the children and nothing else."

"Danny get ready." Leo drew the Spirit Sword from his back "He's about to show himself."

Sure enough, Undergrowth burst out from the ground beneath them "And the two of you shall make a fine meal for them as well!" he swatted them aside, sending Danny crashing down into the sea of vines below them.

Leo skidded to a stop atop the vines and pulled Danny back to the surface "Come on, we've still got a fight on our hands." he pulled him out of the way of an attempted grab by Undergrowth.

"Right! **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** Danny breathed out a blast of fire, incinerating a large number of vines and blowing off one of Undergrowth's arms.

"Pitiful flesh dweller!" Undergrowth regenerated his arm with ease and summoned a large group of cactus monsters, which then proceeded to beat them down to the ground with a fierce barrage of blows.

"Dammit…" Leo coughed up some ectoplasm only to be caught amongst the vines, with Danny following suit.

"You must take route." Star approached him, with Sam following "You must become one with us."

"You can't let him win Star, you're stronger than this I know it! Don't let him win!" he was dragged down below ground, with Danny soon following.

"You will become one with us."

"You have done well my daughters." Undergrowth praised both of them "For this you shall have the honor of feeding the two of them to the children when they are ripe."

"Yes father."

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Danny kept struggling to free himself from the grip of the vines "Dammit, get off of me!"

"Take it easy Danny, calm down and think." Leo took a deep breath "Skulker said that we have to concentrate, we have to let the energy build until it has nowhere to go but out. We let it all out at once on 3, got it?"

"You got it."

"Alright…" his eyes began glowing silver "Let…"

"Us…

"GOOOOO!" two massive bursts of power erupted, one being of ice the other being of wind, either freezing the vines or ripping them apart.

"What?!" Undergrowth let out a violent hiss.

From within the vines burst Danny, his entire body and eyes glowing blue "Bundle up guys, it's about to get ice cold."

This was followed by Leo, his entire body glowing silver and his eyes glowing green "And we're about to rock you like a hurricane."

"Come on boys!" Danny unleashed a wave of ice, freezing Undergrowth solid, with Leo unleashing a wave of wind, shattering Undergrowth's body.

"Wretches!" Undergrowth regenerated and charged at Danny and Leo in a rage.

Danny and Leo repeated the freeze and shatter formation as I will refer to it.

"You will fall!" Undergrowth regenerated and ensnared both Danny and Leo in thick layers of vines.

"You'd better watch out, the weatherman predicted a cold snap coming your way!" they both broke out, causing Undergrowth to shrink slightly.

' _So that's it.'_ Leo shot Undergrowth a confident smirk "Hey you ugly son of a cactus, haven't you heard that cold air can be bad for the plants?" he followed Danny underground and began firing slashes of wind, cutting through a large number of roots, with Danny fired several blasts of ice, freezing the rest of the roots.

"No, my roots!" Undergrowth began shrinking even further, the vines and plant creatures above ground and over the city beginning to freeze as well "No, you cannot do this to my children! NO! This is my domain, my offspring will inherit everything on the Earth!"

"Okay this needs to be said." Leo emerged from the ground, with Danny following "I don't know if anyone has ever had the balls to say this or if you've realized this before now, but you're a terrible father." he shot Danny a grin "So, you wanna finish this with a few combo moves?"

Danny smirked "Sounds good to me."

"Then let's do this already!" they then proceeded to deal Undergrowth a vicious two man combo of punches and kicks, along with the occasional slash from Leo with the Spirit Sword, sending him crashing to the icy ground below them "Now then, as the duly deputised co protectors of Amity Park-"

"-it's our sincere hope that you've enjoyed your ass kicking experience." Danny formed a bow and arrow made of ecto ice.

"Now then, we'll finish it with one final combo." Leo drew his Spirit Sword and began charging ecto wind energy around the blade.

" **Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow!"** Danny fired a bow made of ice and ecto energy.

" **Backlash Wave!"** Leo fired a tornado from his sword, the two attacks combining into one and shredding Undergrowth almost instantly.

"No! NOOOOO!" Undergrowth could only cry out in agony as he was frozen and shredded by the attack, the explosion that followed scattering his roots and vines everywhere, freezing and melting the vines covering the city and freeing all of the people under his control.

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Sam let out a groan "What happened? Oh gross, my mouth tastes like I had about 9,000 shots of wheatgrass without any of the wheat."

Star shrugged "Say whatever you want, it's still not as bad as the food in the cafeteria."

"Hey." that was when Leo and Danny approached them, their bodies still glowing "Are you guys alright?"

"Leo? Danny? What happened to you guys?"

"Let's just say I now have a newfound level of respect for nature." Danny held out a hand and generated an ice crystal "Oh and this happened."

Sam was taken by surprise "Woah, you can do that now?"

"Yep." he handed it to Sam "Here."

"What's this for?"

"I'm just glad you're alright." he caught her in a hug.

"Hang on." Leo used his air powers to push up a lump of coal from the ground, then used his fire powers to turn it into a small diamond and handed it to Star "Here."

Star was taken by surprise "What's this for?"

"I'm just glad you're alright." he wrapped her in a hug.

"Well that's sweet, but you know this still doesn't get you out of meeting my dad."

"Son of a bitch!"

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter was meant to build up a little bit of romance between Leo and Star, seeing how I spoiled that they end up together in the last chapter.**

 **I also added in Danny getting his ice powers earlier than in the show because I thought they had more potential, and that bit about ice being a combination of wind and water was something I got from Naruto.**

 **Why did I add in Leo getting wind powers? Well why not? I mean I did reference them anyway last chapter when his future self fought Dan.**

 **I added in that thing with Skulker and Leo's dad as a sort of callback to the rivalry between Luffy and Smoker, and between Gold D Roger and Garp. Plus I wanted to do a little bit more with Skulker since he's probably the most iconic of all of Danny's enemies aside from Vlad.**


	9. Boxed Up Fury, Claw of the Wild

A crystal clear night in the city of Elmerton.

Valerie was flying through the skies of the city looking around for ghosts, and she looked in the window of her apartment at her father Damon napping on the couch ' _Daddy, I promise when all of this is over and done with I promise I'll finally move us out of this crappy place no matter what it takes.'_ she saw a notification on her radar ' _There's one close by, and the ecto signature is off the charts!'_ she landed on a rooftop and looked around "It's gotta be around here somewhere."

"I can imagine that your radar brought you here looking for me."

Valerie whipped around and her eyes narrowed dangerously "You, you were with that other Phantom bastard!"

Sure enough, there stood Leo in his ghost form, calmly staring out at the horizon "So you do recognize me."

"It doesn't matter, I make a living taking out ghost scum like you. Aren't you even going to turn around and face me?"

"...Take a look down there." he motioned down to the city and the people below them.

"Don't change the subject, what are you doing here anyway?"

"I just come here to gather my thoughts in private sometimes." he looked up again "Tell me something, when you look out here what do you see?"

"What do you mean?" Valerie slowly and hesitantly walked up alongside him, refusing to let her guard down "I can see the city and the people, what else is there?"

Leo let out a soft chuckle "That's not what I meant Valerie, take a closer look and you can see so many of this city's people from here." he pointed to one of the market streets of the city, which was currently bustling with traders and customers "Every single person down there has their own individual story, their own individual reasons and beliefs that led them to become who they are today. We all have our own stories just like you do and it could be said that the story is written by the time we come into the world, that everything is all connected together in a sort of grand scheme as it were, that all of the people you see before you are nothing more than small contributions to something greater than each of their individual stories. It's like a sort of Grand Novel of Life if you will."

"...I don't think I understand." she just looked at him with wide eyes filled with confusion.

Leo gave a small smile "While the thought of that gives me a lot of comfort, I myself am inclined to disagree."

"But why? The idea that everyone is connected to each other sounds ideal though doesn't it? I mean if that's the case then everyone should be able to understand each other right? There would be no need for people to fight amongst themselves if everyone could understand everyone else."

"Yeah that's true, if there could be universal understanding between all of the people of this world then conflict would be eradicated. However while I believe that this is something people would find worthy of striving towards, or rather it could be the only thing one should strive towards no matter how small or how large the scale may be, I don't believe such a thing as universal understanding really exists."

"I should've figured that a ghost wouldn't be able to understand that." her tone was laced with a good amount of venom.

"Let me put it this way. For example, if such a thing as universal understanding exists then why are people punished by law for something like theft?"

"Because it's wrong but-"

"By the laws of the land you would be correct, theft is a crime and people do get punished as a result. But consider this, what of the man who steals from a shopkeeper in order to provide for his family when he doesn't have the means to purchase the goods himself? Should he let his family starve in order to protect the profits of the shop owner?"

"Of course not-"

"Of course you of all people should understand where I'm going with this."

"Of course I do. If universal understanding did exist then there would be no conflict of interest in the situation, the shopkeeper would have understood the dilemma the thief was in and not pressed any sort of charges. Likewise, the thief would most likely have asked the shopkeeper for help rather than actually have stolen the goods seeing how he would most likely have understood that the shopkeeper's own family depends on him making a profit from his goods to provide for them."

"But that sort of thing doesn't happen in real life, I mean it should but it doesn't, and it's all because of the fact that nobody can see past their own situation"

"That's exactly right. Life is chaotic by its very nature no matter what you do, true harmony is a difficult thing for anyone to achieve no matter how hard one tries or how great the one who pursues it may be."

"So what then, are you saying that there's no point in even trying? That it's all pointless?"

"Quite the opposite actually, the thing that makes life most beautiful is that there is always going to be those who will strive to make things better for others, to stand up for a cause that benefits others and not just themselves. Tell me again Valerie, when you look down at the city and its people what do you see?"

Valerie looked down and noticed something.

A pair of shoppers had crashed into each other on the streets, but instead off getting mad at each other and accusing the other of being careless, they both just seemed to apologize before they helped each other gather the displaced goods and they went on their way.

Suddenly it made sense to Valerie, and she gave her answer confidently "Life."

Leo nodded in approval "Exactly."

"Tell me something though, uh…"

"Just call me Blade."

"Fine. Just tell me something Blade, I've seen you with Phantom almost all the time and yet I've almost never seen you try to fight with him. Why?"

"...Two reasons. Firstly, I may be his friend but I'm also his teacher and as his teacher I have to know when to let him fight his own battles. Second, a wise man once told me that a simple act of kindness can go a long way." he stood up and stretched "Well I think it's about time I get going, later." and he took off.

' _A simple act of kindness can go a long way. It's weird, the way he talks he sounds almost exactly like…'_ then the horrible realization hit her ' _Oh man.'_

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The next day came, a Saturday actually.

Leo was walking through the park with Star and let out a groan of exasperation "This is getting totally asinine, we've been capturing and recapturing the Box Ghost since last night and what's up with all of these lame box things that he's been using? I mean the Mailbox of Misfortune, all that did was give me a paper cut and don't even get me started on how lame the Jewelry Box of Despair was."

Star sighed "I know, all that ring did was turn my finger green. How is that supposed to be scary?"

"Well to be fair cubic zirconia isn't really anything to scoff at. But anyway he's attacked 7 times and we've sent him back to the Ghost Zone 7 times so I think he's finally gotten the message we've been trying to send him-" he paused when his ghost sense went off "Maybe I should try writing it down, well that is if he can read."

"BEWARE!" yeah, he was back "Behold, the Lunch Box of Fear!" he held up a lunch box and shot a thermos out of it.

"Oh good, you've decided to start bringing your own thermos to our battles now. You know you could save us even more time and show up already inside it."

"SILENCE! And now, taste your multigrain doom!" he unleashed a massive storm of sandwiches.

"Two can play that game Boxy. Hey guys look, that floating caterer brought free lunch for everybody!" he received a round of enthusiastic cheers.

"No no, I am no caterer! My sandwiches are very high in calories, they will totally clog your arteries!"

"Yeah, in like 40 years."

"Yeah I know, it is a slow death!"

"Let's just hope it's a tasty one." Leo nonchalantly took a bite.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Tasting my doom and to be completely honest it's really dry, you wouldn't happen to have any spicy mustard of doom on you would you?"

The Box Ghost just let out a frustrated grunt and flew off.

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Soon enough, Leo was walking through the mall with Star gripping his stomach "Damn, am I the only one getting heartburn from those sandwiches?"

"Well to be fair to had like 6 of them." Star pointed out.

"Hey free food is free food even if it is vaguely evil-" his ghost sense went off "And now it looks like it's time for desert."

"BEWARE!" the Box Ghost returned and held up a shoebox "Behold, the Shoe Box of Terror!"

"Okay let me stop you right there Boxy, how the hell are shoes supposed to be scary? I mean sure I've made the mistake of smelling Danny's before but come on."

"When it comes to terror shoes, one size fits all!" he started unleashing a storm of shoes.

"Hey guys look, the catering shoe salesman is giving out free samples!" he received more cheers.

"I am not a catering shoe salesman, you are supposed to tremble as my menacing footwear pinches your feet like nobody's business!"

"Do you have these in an 8?" asked Star.

"Oh for- What do I have to do to get people to tremble around here?" giving up for now, he fled.

"Looks like the shoe is on the other foot now!" Leo called, receiving a look from Star "What? It was the only shoe pun I had."

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Frustrated at not being taken seriously, the Box Ghost heads to bring out the big guns and steal the ultimate box, one belonging to the ghost of Pandora.

Managing to bypass Argus Panoptes, the Box Ghost was able to seal the box, much to the anger of Pandora, who demanded it back, prompting a terrified Box Ghost to flee to Skulker's island.

Upon finding him, Skulker berated the Box Ghost for taking such a great risk as to steal from the likes of Pandora, prompting the Box Ghost to unleash a cute and tiny unicorn at Skulker, which suddenly increased in size and grew menacing.

As Skulker fled in terror, the Box Ghost celebrated his newfound power that came from drawing evil energy from within the box.

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Things were quiet now in Amity Park, as in a city wide chain of picnics was in full swing.

Leo was just in the middle of reading a book in peace "This is what a teenager needs in life sometimes, just a little bit of a chance to unwind and-"

"Hey Leo, you got a second?"

' _Son of a bitch.'_ Leo looked and saw Valerie sit down next to him "Oh hey, what's up?"

"I just wanna talk."

"Well make it fast, Star's over grabbing a soda and this is probably as close as I'm gonna get to a date for the time being."

"I know, I'll make this quick." she breathed a deep sigh and looked him in the eye "I know your secret."

"You're gonna have to be more specific, I have a lot things I don't tell anyone."

"Oh for- I know you're the Phantom Blade."

"...What tipped you off to it?"

"What you said to me last night, about a single act of kindness being able to go a long way. You say that a lot whenever you see me now that I think about it, and besides you were aside from coming off as passive aggressive all this time you were genuinely trying to be nice to me but I was such a bitch to you and the others."

"Especially Danny."

"Yeah, especially him- That reminds me, Danny is Danny Phantom isn't he?"

"Yep, how long did it take you to piece that one together?"

"After I figured your secret out, about 10 minutes."

"They're not that far apart."

"Yeah, but all I really did for Danny was date him for a few days, break his heart, hunt him and try to kill him."

"You know he was gonna ask you to go steady, he had a class ring and everything."

"He did?"

"Yeah but it's probably a good thing that you unknowingly shot him down, his dad actually had the thing engraved to Sam."

"That's hilarious." she let out a chuckle, then sighed and hung her head "I'm sorry for everything I did to you and him, could you ever find it in yourself to forgive me?"

"...I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, I've never been one to hold a grudge as it is. But seriously though, you should apologize to Danny when you see him."

"Where is Danny anyway?"

"Oh he's off on some fishing trip with his dad, he won't be back until tomorrow. But that aside you're gonna have to bail, I'm close as f*ck to being on an actual date with Star and with the Box Ghost showing up I'm kinda losing it as it is. I swear if I hear beware one more time I'm gonna wring his-"

"BEWARE!" this was when the Box Ghost showed up yet again, his entire body now glowing an ominous shade of red.

"...Oh for f*ck's sake."

"Behold!" he held up a new sinister looking box "The box of-"

"Pandora?" Valerie finished for him.

Leo shot her a raised eyebrow "Pan-what now?"

"Pandora, the ancient greek legend?"

He just blinked.

"Greek mythology says that Pandora had a box that held all of the evil in the world, I never thought it would be real though."

"Looks real enough to me though."

"Figures an evil box was just floating around in the Ghost Zone for that idiot to grab. But I'm serious Leo, that box should never be opened."

"Yeah yeah I got it, don't let the idiot open the box."

"You mean like this?" the Box Ghost opened it "Creatures of the night, unleash my fright!" he unleashed a swarm of evil bats that terrorized the people "Yes, I am so totally a poet. Slithering snakes, raise my stakes!" he unleashed a barrage of evil snakes.

"Looks like he learned a few new tricks."

"Looks like it." Valerie activated her suit "You need me to cover you?"

"That would help yeah." Leo hid behind her and transformed "Alright just try and contain the stuff here on the ground, I'll punch out the Box Ghost."

"Beware my am-fear-bians!" Box Ghost unleashed an army of demon frogs, stopping Leo in his tracks.

"Well I can officially say I've never been frogged before until now."

Valerie blasted a large number of frogs with her Ecto Bazooka "If I remember the legend correctly then every time the lid to the box is opened the evil released from inside it grows even more powerful, we've gotta find a way to stop it before this gets even more out of hand."

"And you know all about this stuff how exactly?"

"I kind of like the dark and weird stuff." she pulled out a book on dark mythology.

"Well I'm gonna send that idiot and his dark box back where it came from COD." he charged upwards.

"Beware!" Box Ghost unleashed an evil pegasus "Feel the wrath of my dark pegasus!"

"Peggy who?" he was rammed back into the ground.

"You know you really should read more. It's okay, I don't think it can do anything." Valerie told him, followed by the dark pegasus setting off a blast of fire.

Leo fired a blast of fire of his own, cancelling it out "I guess we both should read more. Hey ugly, do the words glue factory mean anything to you?" he fired a barrage of ecto rays, only for the pegasus to shield itself with its wings.

"Yee haw!" this was when the Box Ghost appeared on the pegasus' back in a cowboy hat "Guess what, there's a new sheriff in town and now it's time for me to meet my deputy of death!" he opened the box and summoned a massive multi headed dragon.

"And suddenly I miss the snakes and demon frogs from hell." he pulled Valerie out of the way of a multi headed blast of fire "Get the people to safety, I've got this thing." he blitzed in front of the dragon and fired a blast of cold air, cancelling out another blast of fire and freezing two of the heads in the process ' _Man I love air manipulation, thanks to this I can manipulate its temperature and with air cold enough I can replicate Danny's ice powers to a lesser degree._ Well fight fire and wind I always say, or at least I think I'll start saying it now."

"I always say fight fire with phlegm." the Box Ghost bellowed.

"Fight fire with what?"

The pegasus snorted.

"Okay that's just-" he was hit with a snot rocket and sent crashing to the ground "Well that's just perfect, ghost nasal drip. Every half ghost's dream."

"Let's see." the Box Ghost went over his checklist "10 headed dragon, snotty horse with wings… Yes, my bounty increases at last!" he was thrown to the ground "Horror, dread and fear and all because of me!"

"Okay is it me or is he actually beginning to sound menacing?" Leo dried himself off with his air powers.

"It's that box, it's transferring evil energy into his body." Valerie landed beside him and blasted a head off of the dragon.

"Well that's just great." he fired a stay lightning blast to cancel out a fire blast.

The Box Ghost let out a maniacal laugh "Now I will reign over your world and you will all bow to me or face my wrath!" and he flew off.

"So I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to stop him- Oh hold on, I've gotta do my every fight quip. Eat _my_ fire dragon breath! **Fire Dragon's Claw!"** Leo's feet were engulfed in green ecto flames as he burst upwards and dealt a powerful kick, tearing off one of the heads "Valerie I want you to find Star, head over to Fenton Works and find Danny's sister, then go to my house and find my brother so that the 4 of you track down that thing before it destroys the rest of the city."

"What's your plan then?" asked Valerie.

"I'm gonna head into the Ghost Zone and see if I can track down this Pandora."

"You think she can help take down the Box Ghost?"

"Well it is her box so my best guess is that she can help me get it away from him or better yet tell me how to suck all of this evil crap back into it."

"Well the book in my bad says that her realm is weird and dangerous."

"I'm half ghost, what about my life isn't already weird and dangerous?"

"Whatever, just use this to guide you." she gave him the book "I know Star and Danny would be upset if anything happened to you, so just be careful alright?"

"Oh please, you people couldn't get rid of me if you tried." and he flew off.

' _We probably couldn't.'_

"Valerie!" surprisingly enough, this was when Star showed up and tried to act surprised at seeing her armored up "What… What are you-"

"Relax, I know everything Star. How did you find out anyway?"

"Oh Leo told me, and he mentioned that you would know about him by today since he gave you a huge hint last night."

"...Damn he's good. Anyway come on, we've gotta hurry and form a battle line so we can hunt down that ghost dragon."

"We'll have to get Danny's sister and Leo's brother first."

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Leo flew through the Ghost Zone at top speed, searching through the book endlessly "Come on come on, plagues, pestilence, boy bands… Wait a second, this is Sam's book." he heard a scream and saw Skulker being chased by 3 evil unicorns "Alright good, unicorns. At least these are something know about." he caught Skulker by the shoulders once his rocket pack had been destroyed "Sup?"

"I won't tell anyone about this if you won't." Skulker offered.

"Hey call it what you want, I'm just repaying the debt for you teaching me how to use my air powers." he swerved around the island, causing some stray blasts from the unicorns to scorch it.

"Oh well that's just great, I just had the whole place painted. Why are you holding me and not punishing the Box Ghost? All of this is his doing."

"I'm gonna let Pandora take care of the Box Ghost but that's only if I can find her." he then proceeded to hide Skulker in an icy cavern "You should be safe here."

Skulker watched as the unicorns flew overhead "I've never been able to understand why people think those things are cute."

"Welcome to the club, now where do I go?"

"Follow those beasts and you'll find Pandora, look for the Acropolis."

"I gotcha, thanks." and he took off after the unicorns ' _I just hope Valerie and Star have things under control back in Amity Park.'_

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Things were out of control back in Amity Park, seeing how despite the efforts of Valerie and the girls, the creatures unleashed on the city were beginning to overrun it.

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Leo continued his way through the Ghost Zone as he followed after the evil unicorns until he found a female figure "Excuse me, you think you could tell me where I can find- Oh boy, I've seen some nasty split ends but this is the new top for me."

Yeah, it turns out he was talking to none other than Medusa "You dare to disturb Medusa?" she grabbed him with her snake hair "Gaze into my eyes so that I may turn you to stone!" her eyes began glowing crimson.

"Have you ever considered trying out some conditioner?" he unleashed an Ecto Ray, destroying her snake hair.

"My pets, oh my precious pets! How could you?" and she ran away crying.

"Actually that's a really good look for you, not that that's saying much though." he continued in his way as he read the book aloud " _Pandora's castle rests on the other side of the lightning arch, you will be_ amazed _how easy it is to find."_ he looked up "Amazed. A maze. Duh." he floated down and looked at a sign "This area is protected by minotaurs? What are those again?" he looked up and saw two minotaur ghosts, one in front of him and one behind him "Oh yeah, those. Ole."

They charged at him.

"Too easy." he phased through it, causing them to knock each other out cold "Now that's what I call bull headed." he continued on his way through the maze until he found a centaur blocking his path "Woah. And I don't mean woah like a horse, I mean- Oh for f*ck's sake, can you just tell me how close I am to getting to Pandora's castle?"

The centaur fired an Ecto Ray from his hoofs, sending Leo crashing into the bush wall behind him.

"Does that mean that I'm close or not?" he phased through more Ecto Rays "You know what dude, you need to take a little breath!" he fired a blast of wind, sending the centaur flying into a bush with a large number of "The next time I see you better be on a merry go round!" he continued on his way through the maze, only to run into the back of a giant ugly purple cyclops and was promptly hit by an eye blast "Well this is happening I guess, oh well. **Lightning Dragon's Roar!"** he breathed a blast of lightning from his mouth and struck the cyclops straight in the eye, causing it to roar in pain and run away "Hey let this be a lesson pal, try and get some sunglasses. Or sunglass I guess. You know what f*ck it, I don't have time for this." he continued onwards until he reached the building at the end of the maze and rang the doorbell, prompting a certain figure to emerge "Uh, Pandora is it?"

"WHO WANTS TO KNOW?!" Pandora thundered.

"Someone who found the idiot who stole your box."

"...You have my attention."

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"Come and get me dragon breath!" Valerie fired at the dragon with her Ecto Bazooka on her hoverboard.

"Get a load of my boom box!" the Box Ghost unleashed a powerful Ecto Blast, sending Valerie tumbling through the air and crashing into a tree "Foolish humans, the reign of the Box Ghost has only just begun!"

"Well it looks like this is gonna be the shortest rule in history." Leo made himself known, with an angry Pandora right behind him.

"Uh oh. I mean, uh oh for you! Now it is time for you to crumble and uh, and fear me and my box of terror."

"Your box? YOUR BOX?!" Pandora roared.

"Oh crap."

"That is _my_ box, you stole it from me and for that you must pay!" she fired an Ecto Ray at him.

The Box Ghost reflected back at her using the box.

Pandora rebounded in mid air and charged.

The Box Ghost fired an Ecto Ray, sending her flying away again, much to his surprise "Woah."

"Curses!"

"Okay I'm still new to the mythology stuff, but I'm pretty sure big bad Boxy over there isn't supposed to be as powerful as this." Leo pointed out.

"He's not, he's opened the box so many times it's now filling his body with its evil energy. I thought I could handle him alone but his power has grown beyond even mine, I need your help to defeat him."

"I'm more than happy to help you but I told you before that I'm not very well read. Oh well, I might as well do my thing."

The Box Ghost continued causing chaos throughout the city "The whole world shall crumble before my might!"

"Why don't you go ahead and show us how? **Roaring Thunder!"** Leo fired off his strongest lightning attack.

The Box Ghost used the box to redirect the lightning blast back at him and followed up with some eye beams.

" **Wind Scar!"** Leo drew his Spirit Sword and fired a blast of ecto wind, cancelling out the eye beams, then lowered the temperature of the wind to the point where the Box Ghost and his evil pegasus were frozen solid and sent falling towards the ground.

Box Ghost quickly thawed himself out using the evil energy from the box.

"Alright Boxy, how about you just fork over the box before anyone, and by anyone I mean you, gets hurt?"

"Foolish half ghost, you are the only one who will be getting hurt!"

"Yeah I kind of noticed that too, but that is about to change."

"Huh?"

"THIEF!" Pandora hit him with a blast from behind, sending the Box Ghost flying off of his evil pegasus, scaring it off in the process.

"Come back, I command you!"

"You! Command! NOTHING! And you! Do not! Steal from ME!" she hit him with another blast, sending him crashing into an alley.

"Hey you can't say I didn't ask you nicely." Leo floated down and took the box from him, then handed it back to Pandora "I believe this belongs to you."

"My most treasured possession, how dare you betray it by using it for evil!" she began repeated zapping the Box Ghost and ignoring his cries of pain.

"Hold on a second." this was when Valerie came down on her hoverboard with Star "You mean the box isn't supposed to be used for evil? I thought it was supposed to contain all of the worst malevolence in the entire universe."

"Yes it does, but that is because I created it to contain it all. I was trying to rid the Ghost Zone of all of this malevolence as you put it so that I could make both of our worlds better and less evil."

"Really?"

"Yes, you see underneath all of this power, fury and rage I really am a very kind and thoughtful gal." she fired another blast at the Box Ghost, sending him flying through a wall.

"You know if you show us how to use the box the right way then we could collect all of the evil stuff for you." Leo offered.

"Oh thank you for the offer young man but you and your friends have done so much for me as it is. Besides, this is the easy part. Honestly, I knew that the spew switch was going to come back to haunt me eventually." she switched it from spew to reclaim.

"Why did you put a spew switch on there anyway?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." she opened up the box and pulled all of the evil malevolence "Done and done." she picked up a now depowered Box Ghost "You will face a proper punishment for what you have done and you have a lot of cleaning up to do both here and in the Ghost Zone. You also have to tell everyone here that you're sorry."

"Yes ma'am." the Box Ghost turned back to Leo, Star and Valerie "Beware… my apology!"

"Well it's a start I suppose. Now then, onto the cleanup." she formed a portal into the Ghost Zone and took him away.

"Well that happened I guess." Valerie retracted her suit.

"Yeah I'll say." Leo looked around and noticed nobody around, and he transformed back "I don't know about you two but I'm exhausted." he laid back on the grass, with both of the girls joining him.

"Yeah… I never thought chasing after that guy would drain me like that."

"Neither did I. So you work for Vlad with the whole ghost hunting thing right?"

"Yeah but I don't get paid much though, I mean I have to take 2 jobs just so that I can pay for college."

"What if I could get you a better job?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I could get my brother to give you a job as his lab assistant and you could help Danny and me out on patrol."

"I don't know."

"He can pay you double what Vlad was paying you."

"...Deal." she shook his hand.

"Alright, that's settled then." he heard his phone ring "This is Hunter. Oh hey Danny, how's it going? Oh nothing much, just dealing with the Box Ghost again. Yeah, everything's cool. Alright then, I'll see you when you get back. Oh and by the way, Valerie knows that you and I are half ghost. Bye." and he hung up.

"Was that really necessary? He's gonna freak out."

"Yeah I know, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up." he let out a chuckle.

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 **(Claw of the Wild)**

Star let out a sigh "This is gonna be great, I just know it. We can go hiking and canoeing and exploring."

Leo did not look amused "I signed on for a lot of crap when I moved to this city Star, this is not on that list."

"How could you not be excited about this?"

"Oh I'm totally excited about this, now instead of the typical 5 days a week that almost make me want to become a full ghost I get to spend all of my spring break with these losers and or assholes."

"I can't wait to show you all of the wonders nature has to offer."

"Does it offer a way for me to get the hell out of this?"

"Hey come on Leo, it's gonna be fine." Kwan held up his bag "You just bring the antivenom stuff and I'll bring the needle, this bag here contains all of the nature we need."

"You got Rainforest Demolition 2 in there?"

"Yep."

"I think I'll stick to the real world thanks." Star held up a map.

"Sure until the real thing turns out to be 50 years ahead of what that brochure tells you and so it looks like a piece of useless crap."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"Look up."

Star looked up and saw a crappy looking old and run down summer camp "Oh."

"Yeah I think me and Kwan made the right choice." they stepped out of the bus with everyone else in front of the old worn down mess hall "Well the brochure may be outdated as f*ck but at least the sign is accurate."

"And Lake Eerie is creepy with two e's alright, in fact this may qualify for 3."

"Looks like it."

"Oh come on you guys, there's nothing scary about this place." Star scolded them.

"Wait for it."

"Hello faithful pioneers." that was when Mr Lancer and Ms Tetzlaff stepped out of the mess hall, much to the shock and horror of the other students.

"Oh joy, Mr Lancer and Ms Tetzlaff. To what do we owe the pleasure of you fine educators joining us here? _Everyone wants them to say they're just passing through but anybody with common sense would know that they're not.'_

"Children please, just relax." Lancer waved them off "For the next full week we're not your teachers."

' _Wait for it…'_

"Better, we're your counselors." Tetzlaff told them.

' _And there it is.'_

"So now our hold over all of you no longer stops at 3:00 in the afternoon, it lasts for the whole entire livelong day."

Mikey raised his hand "Before I burst into tears at the thought of my lost summer can you tell us where the bathrooms are?"

"There aren't any." this drew a number of gasps.

Lancer was one of said gasps "Call of the Wild!"

"Will you suck it up Lancer, you're in the wilderness and that means that all of the world is your bathroom." she threw a roll of toilet paper to Mikey and Nathan, promptly both of the nerds to walk off into the bushes.

"I don't know guys, from what I've heard this camp is haunted." Dash told them "They say there's a monster in the woods at Lake Eerie and two of them in the lake." this led to constant murmuring amongst the other students."

"Well that's just f*cking perfect." Leo grumbled "Just what we need, a bunch of amateur ghost stories told by a bunch of guys with no brains and barely enough brawn to back it up."

This was when Tetzlaff finally lost her temper and blew her whistle at full strength "Pipe down campers, I can assure you that this camp is definitely not haunted!"

A terrified scream could be heard as Mikey came rushing out of the woods "There's a ghost monster in the woods and it just took Nathan!" this caused almost everybody present to freak out.

"Calm down soldier, there are no monsters at this camp!"

"Tell that to the beast that just ate Nathan."

"Beast?" Lancer seemed particularly freaked out "How big is a beast compared to a monster, anyone?"

"Maybe we should check out the woods." Leo suggested.

"That's a negative soldier." Tetzlaff told him "This camp is now officially under lockdown. Everyone here report to the cabins while Mr Lancer and I go off and search for whatever is left of Nathan." this drew screams of terror from Lancer and Mikey.

"Well that's just perfect."

"It's gonna be alright, we'll find Nathan no sweat." Star assured him "I doubt Mr Lancer and Ms Tetzlaff will be able to ruin the whole summer, we can still have fun." her eye twitching said otherwise.

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Nightfall came.

Star was sitting on her bed in the girls' cabin "This can still be fun."

Paulina was in the middle of gossiping with another girl on the other side of the cabin "So he was like no way, and I was all like yes way!"

"This can still be… You know what forget it, I'm doomed." then she heard an eerie noise outside and saw a green glow.

Paulina started freaking out "OMG did you see that green glow? It must be swamp gas, the monster in the woods must have gotten it from eating Nathan!"

' _It wouldn't surprise me.'_ Star looked out the window.

As it turns out, it was just Leo in his ghost form holding up an Ecto Ray, with Kwan standing right behind him "You wanna get the hell out of here and do something actually worthy of our time?"

"Let's see, either go with the two of you or listen to Paulina trying to hide her moisturizer from the monster and stand on chairs so that it won't be able to get us. Get me out of here. But that's the thing I'm worried about though, are we prepared to go into the woods?"

"We've got the Hunter Thermos and a set of Ecto Wrist Rays that my brother gave us, along with my brother's latest invention." he held up an unfamiliar looking weapon on his wrist "The Cryo Blaster, this thing can freeze anything in a fraction of a second. He created it as a way for astronauts to travel to distant galaxies while frozen in a form of suspended animation."

"Wow."

"Yeah tell me about it, most high school kids worry about packing enough underwear for camp and then there's us, awesomeness incarnate."

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10 minutes passed.

Leo was searching through the woods, with Kwan and Star right behind him "Stay close to me you guys, whatever this thing is it could be watching us right now."

"We know." Kwan looked at Star and smirked "I've gotta hand it to you Star, walking around in the woods at night. I'm impressed."

"You saw my alternative." Star pointed out dryly "What's your excuse guys?"

"Pretty much the same thing with Dash, only with more punching."

"He hit you guys?"

"No Leo ran out of patience and beat the crap out of him, we had to get out of there before he got caught."

"Enough about that." Leo knelt down on the ground "Guys check this out, footprints and a lot of them."

"So what? Those could belong to anything out here." this was cut off by a furious snarl in the distance "A fluffy bunny foraging for a carrot for example."

Leo felt his ghost sense go off "A carrot with ghost powers?"

"Sure why not, for all we know it might help me not freak the hell out." this was followed by a reptilian beast emerging from the bushes.

"You were saying? **Raging Bolt!"** Leo fired a blast of lightning at the beast, sending it over the cliff behind it "Oh yeah, this is definitely a hell of a lot better than staying in the cabin."

The reptilian beast climbed back and snarled.

"Okay, and apparently this is happening. Here gigantic kitty lizard thing, you wanna play fetch?"

"Leo you do know playing fetch is for dogs." Star pointed out.

"Not the way I play it." he pulled out the thermos and sucked in the beast "And that's how we do it in the land of badass, population yours truly."

"Thanks for the save, but we only got the monster and there's still no sign of Nathan."

"Oh come on, I highly doubt the monster would actually eat Nathan. You guys head back to the camp and try and get some sleep, I'll keep looking for him and be back before dawn. Just get some rest."

"Alright, just be careful." and they took off back for camp.

"I always am." and Leo took off into the woods.

Once they were all gone, a shadowy figure emerged from the bushes "No sign of the subject, but you won't believe who _is_ here."

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Morning came, and everyone lined up for breakfast in the mess hall.

Kwan let out a sigh "Breakfast, what was once the most important meal of the day has now turned into the most disgusting meal of the day."

Star just pushed her gruel aside "Do you have any idea what Leo got back?"

"Not until just now." this was when Leo sat down next to them "I figured it was morning when it went from black to even more depressing gray."

"Did you have any luck finding Lester?"

"No but I did find his camera, he probably found shelter in a cave somewhere. At least that reject of a monster is gone now so that's a positive."

A scream was heard as one of the jocks rushed into the mess hall "The monster just ate Dash!"

' _And I spoke too soon, and at least the monster got to eat._ Come on dude, that's not possible. For all we know Dash just wandered off to take a leak somewhere."

"No way Hunter, you don't know how amazing Dash is with his bladder! He can hold it no sweat for up to-"

"Alright alright, sorry I asked. Just don't finish that sentence dude, there are ladies present. You know what, I need some air." and he wandered outside.

"-days at a time!"

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Things were quiet around the camp, too quiet actually.

Leo made his way outside ' _Note to self Hunter: The next time Star wants you to spend a week at some camp say no!'_ he heard voices and rounded a corner ' _What the hell?'_

As it turns out, Lancer was dressed up in a bear suit "I did not spend a year at the gym getting a sculpted summer physique just so I could hide it in a bear suit!"

"That's the Scruffy the camp mascot costume." Tetzlaff pointed out "You're gonna wear it to make the kids happy and take their minds off the disappearances, I'll take care of the harder stuff like killing the monster in the woods."

"...Fair enough." Lancer stuck on the head of the costume "Hello campers!"

Leo let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose ' _The things I put up with.'_

A shriek could be heard as one of the popular girls came rushing out of the woods "The monster just took Paulina, we went out to get some sun and I found her suntan lotion next to the footprint of a gigantic claw!" she started crying while the rest of the campers started murmuring amongst themselves.

"Buck up camper, we'll find her." Tetzlaff assured her.

"We have to, she's my best friend and without her sunblock she's in terrible danger! She burns so easily!" she continued crying.

"Clan of the Cave Bear will everyone calm down!" Lancer ripped off his bear suit.

"Here's what we're gonna do, we'll divide into 2 groups." Tetzlaff told them "Mr Lancer and his team will stay at the cabins and do nice normal camp stuff like crafts and canoeing, me and my team are gonna go on a nice and normal hike-"

"That doubles as a nice and normal search and rescue effort."

Tetzlaff drew a line in the dirt, separating Star from Kwan and Leo.

"Hurry up Star, get over on our side."

Tetzlaff stopped Star from joining them "Get a move on Miss Connors."

' _Son of a bitch.'_

"You don't have to worry about me." Star assured him "I'll be sure to look for all of the others while I'm with them." and she left with them.

"Star hold on, you might need the… thermos. Damn."

"You know it might be better that we have it." Kwan suggested "I mean who knows what kinds of dangers could be lurking right here in camp right?"

"...You just had to say that didn't you?"

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1 hour later…

Kwan let out a groan of boredom "Hurray, let's hear it for danger."

"Shut up." Leo was in the middle of trying to paddle through the lake "Between trying to paddle our way through what I'm pretty sure is tar and listening to Lancer singing Row Your Boat for like the umpteenth time, I'm not sure how long even I can last-" he was cut off when the fog suddenly started rolling in "Say whatever you want, this is a hell of a lot better than the alternative. I'm gonna go check out the woods, you stay here." he transformed under the cover of the fog and took off.

Kwan looked down and noticed the thermos missing "Leo hold on… and he's gone. Oh well, what are you gonna do?"

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On another end…

Tetzlaff turned back to face the class "And that is how you would disable a grizzly squirrel without using anything other than your bare hands." and she walked off, with the rest of the students following her in silence.

Star stayed behind by herself "Oh you've gotta be kidding me." she heard a rustling behind her and looked through the bushes, only to see nothing there "What the heck?" she turned around and found another monster looming over her, so she tried to hit it with a stick.

The monster snapped the stick into pieces with ease and tried to fry Star using his Ecto eye beams.

Star immediately took off running but ended up tripping on the ground in front of her.

A stray Ecto Ray sent the monster crashing to the ground, courtesy of Leo "Sticks are so 17th century Star, in this day and age it's all about the Ecto Rays."

The monster got back up and fired more eye beams.

Leo sidestepped them with ease "See what I mean? All about the Ecto Rays." he blitzed behind the monster, grabbed it by the horns and threw it to the ground "Bad dog."

"Don't play with it, just use the thermos on it." Star told him.

"No can do, I left it back with Kwan. Wait hold on a second." he held up the Cryo Blaster on his wrist and fired it at the monster, freezing it solid "Come on, we'd better hurry back to the others and warn Tetzlaff of the Jungle about Monsters on Ice over here."

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Tetzlaff of the Jungle, as I will refer to her as from now on, sent a snake tied in several knots on its way "And that's how you survive after you get swallowed by a python."

The students ignored this and gasped when they heard a rustling in the bushes nearby.

"Remember what I said about aiming for the eyes!" Tetzlaff charged into the bushes at full speed.

However, once she was gone the others found a number of shadowy figures approaching them from the bushes "RUN!"

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Tetzlaff looked back and saw all of the other students gone "What the-?" she looked in front of her and saw several shadowy figures approaching her, later revealed to be Walker's thugs, and she screamed.

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Leo rushed into the camp with Star in his arms and he transformed back "No sign of anyone on this side, what about you?"

Star shook her head "Nothing over here either, so that must mean…"

"Oh crap, Kwan!"

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Leo quickly led Star to the lake, only to find the canoes all destroyed and abandoned "There's no sign of them."

"Leo check this out." Star held up Kwan's bag.

"So whatever is causing this they got Kwan too, not to mention my brother's Hunter Thermos. Just perfect."

"But it doesn't make sense, you caught the first monster last night and you just put the second one on ice. Just how many more of these things could they be?" this was answered by the sound of rustling in the bushes.

"At least one more by the looks of it. It's phantom time." Leo flashed into his ghost form and prepared a blast of lightning.

However, who appeared from the bushes shocked Leo so bad he actually let his attack dissipate into nothing.

"Wulf, is that really you?"

Wulf let out a howl and collapsed.

"Come on, let's get him back to camp."

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Soon enough, the group had arrived back at camp and taken Wulf to the first aid hut.

"Hold still while I put these on." Star spread something across Wulf's wounds.

"What exactly is that?" asked Leo.

"It's a mixture of berries that are known to speed up the healing process, I told you before that nature was full of wonder didn't I?"

"Yeah I've gotta give you that one."

" **Gxia bona alvidi vi denove mia amiko."**

"It's good to see you again too Wulf." he received a strange look from Star "What? I read up on a little bit of Esperanto so that I could understand him when the time came for me and Danny to bust him out of Walker's prison."

"Looks like he beat you to the punch." Star commented "And it looks like he did some real damage while he did."

"Well to be fair tearing a hole between dimension can take a lot out of a guy."

"Wait… Leo, the hole Wulf tore through to escape from Walker."

"You think that it might still be open and all of these monsters have actually been coming from the Ghost Zone this entire time. It makes sense, those things are crawling out of that portal just like a bunch of cockroaches through a sewer drain. We can have Wulf lead us to it and we'll close it up for good tonight."

Wulf leapt down onto the floor, circled around a few times, and then promptly fell asleep.

"Or we could just wait until he wakes up."

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However, what neither Leo nor Star realized was that Walker was spying on them using a drone camera "So that half ghost punk did what all of you could not, he found Wulf. This is just outstanding, now I can get 2 prisoners for the price of one. I think it's time for me to send out a little invitation."

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Nightfall came, and the sky went from gray to black.

Leo sat with Star outside of the mess hall "We're gonna get them all back Star, I promise."

Star let out a sigh "I know but the thought of Kwan out there with a monster or worse."

"What's worse than a monster?"

"A monster and Dash and the jock brigade."

"...Yeah that is worse. But come on, you know I would never let anything like that happen to either of you, or Danny or any of the others for that matter. I couldn't imagine my life without you…" he paused "Or Danny or the others."

Star blushed slightly "Well-"

"Hold on." he cut her off, revealing the sound of rustling "Something's coming, stay here and wake up Wulf."

"Just be careful out there, I couldn't imagine my life without you either."

Leo raised an eyebrow, causing her to blush further.

"Or any of the others."

He gave a small smile, then flashed into his ghost form and took off.

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About a half hour passed.

Leo made his way through the woods, using a small fireball as a source of light ' _It should be around here somewhere.'_

A rustling could be heard as two of Walker's goons emerged from the bushes "Aren't you out past your curfew ghost boy, isn't that against the rules?"

"Yeah sorry but I have a policy, that being that I only follow rules that aren't complete and utter bull shit." Leo replaced his ball of fire with two balls of lightning "I was wondering when you guys were gonna show yourselves."

"Relax kid, we're not here to do any harm. Okay maybe just a little." one of them fired an Ecto Ray from his gun.

Leo dodged it with ease "Start talking, now."

"Fine fine." the guard threw him Kwan's jacket "We have a message for you from Walker, he says that if you hand over Wulf to us then you can have your friends back." and then they flew off.

"Well that's just great, I hate when my options are limited like this. If I hand Wulf over then one of my friends get tortured, but on the other hand if I don't then Kwan and all of the other somewhat innocent people get tortured. Sometimes I hate my life." and he flew off.

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Star sat with Wulf outside in front of a fire "He'll be back soon, don't worry."

This was when Leo flew down in front of them "Wulf listen to me, I need you to remember where that portal is and I need you to remember right now."

Wulf took a good long whiff of Kwan's jacket and began sniffing the ground, leading them into the woods as he did so.

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Sunrise was almost upon them.

Leo continued following Wulf through the woods, with Star right behind him ' _We've been walking all night, I doubt it can be that much further.'_ he stopped when he heard a growling from in front of them "Well that's just perfect isn't it? Star get behind me, I'll take care of this myself." he readied himself to hit the beast that emerged dead on with an Ecto Ray.

However, Wulf beat him to the punch and tackled the beast to the ground.

"...Or we could let him do it I guess."

Wulf then proceeded to claw the ever living crap out of the beast, terrifying it into running off with its tail between its legs, only for him to grab it by the tail and fling it around, sending it flying into the distance.

"Looks like he got better a hell of a lot faster than I thought he would."

"I'm telling you, it was those berries I gave him." Star told him.

"And I'm worry for ever doubting you." Leo followed Wulf through a thick grove of bushes, with Star right behind him, until they found a beautiful scene of a pond being fueled by a waterfall "Wow. It's just… majestic, there's no other word to describe it."

"Well nature is full of all sorts of wonderful surprises."

"So I've been hearing a lot out here."

" **Veni malantaux."** Wulf led them behind the waterfall, revealing a portal between the Earth and the Ghost Zone that he had made with his claws.

"And yet another amazing wonder of nature. Alright you guys, are we ready to break into a prison?"

Star looked at Wulf and saw him eagerly sharpening his claws against the walls of the cave "I think we have our answer."

"Hold off on that for a second buddy, we can't just rush in there like a bunch of wild animals. We have a plan." he held up a duffle bag filled with black fur.

"We do? I mean, we do."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours passed.

Carrying the duffle bag filled with fur, Leo made his way through the Ghost Zone until he reached Walker's prison, only to find the doors to the gate wide open "Not a guard in sight, I guess Walker is expecting us." he flew inside until he found himself in a dark room, revealing all of the teachers and campers floating in a strange substance in a container "Looks like they're all frozen in some kind of suspended animation, and now that I think about it it looks kind of like the camp oatmeal only not as ugly." he touched the box, only to get electrocuted "Okay I'm clearly not gonna get them out that way. At least now I know that they're not in any real danger in there."

"Which is more than I can say for you punk." this was when Walker made himself known with a large number of guards.

"Oh look, you brought the whole gang here just to welcome me. I'm touched, truly. Now let my friends go."

"Return Wulf to me."

"Fine. You know kidnapping all of the campers just to get me to bring Wulf to you was kind of overly excessive."

"Perhaps it was, but I did have to take the ones that ended up stumbling on my little search party in the woods if only to keep those fools from shooting off their mouths. We started out just looking for Wulf, but once I found out you and your friends were in those woods along with him I knew that I only needed to capture a few of your friends in order to get your attention. Not that it matters though, the end result is still the same. I have all of your friends and you have one of mine."

"Yeah I have a pretty good feeling that Wulf doesn't consider you to be a friend." and yet he threw the duffle bag to him regardless.

"Again it's not like it matters though, the important thing here is that this year long game of cat and mouse has finally come to an end and in case it wasn't clear to you let me just point out that you're the mouse." with this in mind, Walker whipped out the Hunter Thermos and sucked Leo inside before he could react, trapping him in it "Now I've got the campers, the half ghost punk and Wulf. That little halfa punk should've known a lot better than to engage in a game of wits with the likes of yours truly. And now Wulf…" he knelt down and opened the bag.

However, that was when Star burst out from the bag wearing the bottom half of Lancer's bear costume "How's that for a game of wits?" she fired her Ecto Wrist Ray at Walker, sending him flying and sending the Hunter Thermos out of his grip, then fired off at the guards "You know some people may find it hard to engage in a game of wits when your opponent is missing a few pieces." she rushed over and grabbed the thermos.

Enraged, Walker tried to hit her with an Ecto Ray, only to send her flying and phasing through the wall.

Star blinked in confusion before the realization dawned on her "Oh yeah that's right, Leo said that humans can pass through stuff in the Ghost Zone. That's pretty convenient." she phased through to another room and opened the Hunter Thermos.

This allowed Leo to make his escape "Thanks for the save."

Unfortunately, it turns out Walker was in the exact same room as them "Get them!" he sent two guards after them.

"Come on!" Leo led Star around a corner.

However, Star did manage to finish off the guards using her wrist ray "Yes, got them!"

"Let's go!" Leo pulled her back around the corner "Take a look at this." he turned the wall invisible, revealing Kwan and the others trapped in suspended animation.

"Oh my god. Kwan, the campers- Wait a second, are they floating in oatmeal?"

"I'm pretty sure it's just a form of suspended animation that just so happens to look like a form of breakfast, although the stuff at camp is a hell of a lot grosser. Trust me, it's a lot safer for them in there than it is out here."

"How do we get them out of there?"

"I don't think that's our biggest concern at the moment."

"He's right, the real question is when you join them." this was when Walker showed up and sicked a number of guards on them.

"Alright Walker, listen up. You've got me now and you can do whatever the hell you want with me, just let Star go."

"Let someone go, now that would be against the rules." he pulled out a collar "This collar always did work on Wulf but since he's not here I guess I have no choice but to put it on somebody else."

"Try whatever you want on me Walker, nothing in your little bag of tricks has any chance of scaring me."

"I'll be sure to make a note of that ghost boy." Walker turned his attention to Star "But you're not the one who's gonna be wearing it."

"You wouldn't dare."

"I think we both know by now that I would." he closed in on Star.

"You do it and I'll make you suffer worst than you could ever imagine!"

Lucky for them, that was when Wulf burst onto the scene and tackled Walker down to the ground.

"Oh thank god."

"Hold it!" the guards prepared to fire on Wulf.

"No you fools, don't hit me!" Walker blasted Wulf off of him.

Leo took this moment to break free of his restraints and blasted the guards holding Star, freeing her in the process "Just stay back, I've got this." he transformed back and phased through the wall, but not before smashing the other two guards' heads together, then phased back through and flashed back into his ghost form "Nice work."

"Hold on." Star fired a few more blasts from her wrist ray at some of the guards "Man I love this thing, it's the perfect accessory that looks good and kicks butt."

"That's the idea."

"Seize them!" Walker lined up with a large number of guards.

"You guys ready? Good, now let's kick some ass!" and they all charged into the fray, with Wulf slashing through one guard after another while Leo and Star blasting at them left and right.

However, this badass onslaught ended when Walker grabbed Leo by the neck and roughly slammed him against the wall "You're all breaking the law ghost punk."

"Break this punk!" Star fired at Walker with her wrist ray, destroying his hat and sending hum running.

Leo floated down to the ground in front of her "Nice work and thanks for the save, take Wulf and go get Kwan and the others while I keep Walker and his thugs busy.

"You got it." Star looked back at Wulf "Come with me. Veni kun me."

Leo shot her a look "Uh…"

"So I may know a little bit of Esperanto too, don't tell anyone about it." and she rushed off into the other room, with Wulf following her.

"We now return you to your regularly scheduled ass kicking." and Leo charged back into the fray.

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Star led Wulf back into the room that housed Kwan and the rest of the campers "Kwan… all of them…"

Unfortunately, that was when Walker showed up behind them "So did you really think you could run away from me?"

" **Raging Bolt!"** a quick blast of lightning hit Walker in the back, scorching his backside considerably, courtesy of a thoroughly pissed off Leo.

"Firing from behind, how very cowardly of you."

"You're the last person in this world or mine that I wanna hear that from. You tortured Wulf, you tried to torture Star, you kidnapped my friends. You're as cowardly as they come Walker, you make me sick."

"Then what will this do?" Walker fired an Ecto Ray.

Leo flashed back into his human form, allowing him to harmlessly phase through both Walker and the Ecto Ray, then flashed into his ghost form again.

"You!"

"I think it's high time I put this show on ice for a little while." faster than the eye could see, Leo whipped out the Cryo Blaster and fired it at Walker, freezing him on the spot "Okay, done and done."

"But how do we get through there to free all of the others?" asked Star.

"That's an easy one, you remember how normal humans pass through solid objects in the Ghost Zone?"

"Oh yeah." she passed through the wall with ease "Now there should be a switch around here somewhere."

"It's probably hidden, I doubt Walker would be stupid enough to just leave a switch like that in plane sight."

However, that was when the wall opened, courtesy of Wulf, who pressed the button on the wall on the same side as Leo "Uh, duh."

"...Then again, even I can't always be right." he started pushing the container with all of the campers out, only to notice something "Hey where did Wulf go?"

Star jerked a thumb back at where Wulf got his tongue stuck to the frozen Walker "Ferocious? Yes. Smart? Not so much."

"There's worse, take Dash for example. Nobody gets dumber than that."

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About an hour passed, and everyone was back on the other side of the portal, behind the waterfall to be more specific.

"A little bit of reverse polarity should keep Walker and his thugs in the Ghost Zone for a good long while, whenever he thaws out that is." Leo pressed a few buttons on the Hunter Thermos and aimed it at the tear made by Wulf, closing it like it had never been there "Alright then, let's get the hell out of here already." he flew the entire party out of the cave and back into the open sun before setting them down by the edge of the river "There we are."

"Wow, I'm impressed." Star commented.

"What, with my strength and my awesomeness?"

"No, that you actually knew the exact meaning of reverse polarity."

"Hey cut me some slack, that's Danny's problem not mine."

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Now for a little mini segment I like to call, what Danny was up to while not appearing even once in this chapter:

"PARTY!"

"CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!"

"GO DANNY! GO DANNY! GO DANNY! GO GO!"

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Leo looked over at Wulf and put a gentle hand on his shoulder "You're finally free now my friend, now run before Star tries to make another tasteless joke."

" **Libera?"**

"Yes, libera mia amiko."

" **Amiko!"** Wulf caught him in a hug.

"Woah down boy."

With one final grateful hug to both Leo and Star, Wulf raced away into the distance to enjoy his first taste of freedom.

"Good for him, he deserves it."

"Are you gonna be alright though?" asked Star.

"Yeah don't worry about me, I'm just glad I could give Walker some much deserved and long overdue payback. Now come on, let's hurry and get everyone else back to camp."

"We don't have to wake them all up right away do we?"

"No I guess we don't."

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Nightfall came.

"So let me see if I've got this." Kwan said slowly "We're just gonna tell everyone that all of that was just a dream."

Leo shrugged "Not exactly the plan but everyone is just gonna think that it was thanks to a horrible headache they'll have from being trapped in suspended animation when we wake them up from it tomorrow."

"Oh tell me about, floating in that oatmeal was almost worse than actually being forced to eat all of it. Almost."

"You see guys, this is how things are supposed to work out. Wulf is finally free, Walker is on ice back in the Ghost Zone and we don't have to worry about waking the others up until tomorrow morning. Or until it turns gray again."

"Just a word of advice Leo, make sure you get out of Nathan's way when you wake him up. He hasn't gone to the bathroom in days."

"...Yeah maybe we'll wait a little bit longer to wake him up."

"Probably for the best." Kwan pulled out his laptop and put in a DVD "Okay, it's finally show time."

"Yes!"

"Oh heck no to the heck no, we are not watching that." Star shut the laptop, allowing them to see the stars gliding through the sky above them "Now it's show time."

"Wow, it's just majestic."

"I know." they looked and saw Kwan fast asleep.

' _Oh thank god.'_ he heard some howling and hooting in the distance "And it looks like we have our own soundtrack."

"It's perfect."

"You know I usually don't believe in perfection, but I think that's the best word to describe this scene." he stretched out one of his arms behind Star's back and let a small smile stretch across his face ' _Maybe this trip wasn't such a bad thing after all.'_

 **A/N:**

 **I thought this would be a good way to wrap up the Valerie story arc since it was never really ended properly in the original show, and I figured why not make her a member of Team Phantom now?**

 **I figured that I would make a chapter solely focused on Leo because he'll only have a small appearance at the beginning of next chapter.**

 **I know the Box Ghost and Wulf episodes took place during season 3, but I figured that since I'm pushing most of those episodes further ahead this would be the best way to add in a light relief sort of chapter before I do Reality Trip, which will be critical to this story.**

 **For the record, next chapter will be Reality Trip, and unlike in canon it actually will be important to the plot for one major reason.**

 **Just so you know, for the time being I'm going to be fully focused on my Danny Phantom story until it's finished. This means that all of my other stories will be put on hold for a short while.**


	10. Reality Trip

A beautiful day in June, the sun was shining through the clear blue skies and the birds were singing their majestic harmonies.

"I'm late I'm late I'm late!" and Leo was tumbling his way down the stairs ' _Son of a bitch how could I have overslept today of all days?_ I can't have Lancer keeping me on the last day of school so-" he stumbled his way into the kitchen and found Raphael sitting there with two men in white suits "Oh god the Guys in White again? I thought I got you two to leave me alone after the living hell that was that weekend in Jamaica."

"You did." Agent K said dryly.

"But you did agree to stop hounding us for our father's research after that." Raphael pointed out.

"That we also did."

"I'll leave the three of you alone then." and he made his way down to the lab.

"Then what do you two want?" asked Leo "I'm already late for school as it is.

"Your father was one of the greatest ghost hunters this world had ever seen and he had a vast reservoir of knowledge on ghostly items, or more specifically this." Agent O pulled a picture out of his suit and placed it in front of Leo "Is there anything you would care to tell us about this?"

Leo studied the picture and his eyes narrowed "The Reality Gauntlet, my dad once said that it's the most powerful artifact to ever be discovered in the Ghost Zone."

"We believe this to be true, the Reality Gauntlet may very well be capable of generating enough spectral power to eradicate ghosts forever. Perhaps even these two." he pulled out two more pictures, these ones being of Leo and Danny in their ghost forms.

"And you want to know how to make it work. Fine, just hold on a second." Leo pulled a book off of the shelf and opened it to a page with a picture of the Reality Gauntlet "The gauntlet itself is useless without its main sources of power, the Reality Gems and each one has a specific power over reality. First there's the red one, the Gem of Life. It can bring anything to life, whether they be organic or not. The yellow one is called the Gem of Form, it can manipulate matter and allow the user to transform anything into anything else. The blue one is known as the Gem of Fantasy, it can make the user's dreams into reality. The green one is called the Gem of Time, it gives the user power over time itself. All the wearer of the Reality Gauntlet has to do is touch all of the Reality Gems in the right sequence will allow the user to have complete and total control over reality itself."

"And what can you tell us about this orange gem?"

"Oh that one? That's the power source for the Reality Gauntlet, call it the Gem of Power if you want. That gem is the most important one of them all and even if one has all of the other Reality Gems the gauntlet is still useless without it. Don't bother asking about that though, the Gem of Power has been lost for centuries."

"I see." both agents stood up "Thank you for the information you've given us, it will be of great help in furthering our investigation." and they made their way out.

"I wonder what that was about. Oh well, I'd better get Danny and head for school." he flashed into his ghost form "I guess I'd better take the airel route. See ya bro!" and he took off out the window.

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A quiet morning in the Fenton household.

Jazz was sitting on the couch looking at an old family photo album and she let out a small sad sigh ' _Danny and I used to be so close back then.'_ she heard someone knocking on the door and answered it.

It was just Leo standing there, now back in his human form "Hey Jazz."

"Oh hey Leo, Danny's just doing an early morning workout session down in the lab. You wanna wait for him?"

"Yeah sure, thanks." he sat down on the couch in the living room and looked at the photo album, revealing a picture of Danny and Jazz when they were kids "You guys were really close back then weren't you?"

"Yeah, we really were." Jazz let out a sigh "Danny and I shared everything. Secrets, pizzas, sodas. They really were great times."

"You miss those times don't you?"

"Yeah, I really do. Ever since I started high school Danny and I have been drifting apart, I mean first it was hanging out all the time with Tucker and Sam and ever since he got his ghost powers from that accident he's been training with you a lot of the time." she gave a small smile "At least with you guiding him he's becoming really mature and responsible."

"Well I do what I can, I am Danny's teacher but I'm also his friend and as both of those things I have to make sure Danny has his priorities in order."

"I'm his big sister so I have to do the same, but the problem is that he always feels like I'm such a pain now."

"Oh come on don't be like that, you're always looking out for Danny just as much as I am. I mean you were the one who saved Danny from being trapped in the Ghost Zone 10 years in the future, not that he isn't still shaken up by what happened then by he's come to terms with it and now he's even more motivated than ever when it comes to his training and studying alike. I don't think I can ever thank you enough for that."

"You can thank me by continuing to cover for Danny with your dad."

"I think I can manage that, it's gonna be pretty hard though." they paused before they burst out laughing.

However, what they didn't realize was that Danny was listening in from the other side of the wall in the kitchen, and he frowned ' _I miss those times too Jazz, I really do.'_ but in order to make sure they didn't realize he was listening in, he cleared his throat and walked into the room "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Hey man, you ready to go?" Leo stood up and stretched.

"Yeah sorry I kept you waiting, I had to put away the Fenton Helmet before my dad found out I was using it."

"I thought he hated it when you guys use that thing for exercise."

"He does, but I tried to use it for something that you taught me from watching Naruto all that time: training in visualization. I put tons of virtual simulations of my fights with Skulker and a bunch of other ghosts on there."

"Cool. Well we'd better get going, we're gonna be late and I do not want to have to be kept after right before summer vacation starts." he flashed into his ghost form.

"And you think I do?" Danny flashed into his own ghost form in response "It's almost summer vacation and starting at 3:30 we're not gonna have to listen to anyone or do anything school related for a damn long time! Well see ya Jazz." and he took off through the wall, with Leo following him.

Jazz watched them go and gave a small smile ' _I don't think I've ever seen Danny happier than he is now, ever since Leo first showed up he's been changing for the better.'_

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Danny stopped in mid air outside his house to admire the scenery "This is what I needed."

"Everything alright?" asked Leo.

"Yeah I'm fine, just taking a second to enjoy the scenery, think about everything I want to protect and what not."

However, this was when Jack noticed them while he was in the shower "You ghost kids, when I get my hands on you I'll tear you apart molecule by molecule!" he pulled an Ecto Bazooka out of nowhere and began firing at them.

Danny narrowly dodged the blast, with Leo not even having to bother "Which is a perfect example of why I'll be spending the summer being a lot more subtle."

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

"As I said before, it's almost summer vacation and starting at 3:30 we're not gonna have to listen to anyone or do anything school related for a damn long time!"

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At the same time, in order to confirm the information Leo had given them, the Guys in White went to the Amity Park Penitentiary to see Freakshow, who had been in jail for almost 6 months ever since he first brought his Circus Gothica to town, and they questioned him about the Reality Gauntlet.

Freakshow initially denied knowing anything about it until he was shown the captured Lydia and learned of how the Guys in White planned to use the Reality Gauntlet to eradicate all ghosts from existence, including Danny Phantom and the Phantom Blade, or Danny and Leo, not that any of them knew that.

Desperate to get revenge on Danny and Leo for what they did to him, Freakshow was quickly freed from his chains and basically confirmed everything Leo had told them as he placed each of the 4 initial Reality Gems, those being life, form, fantasy and time, into the gauntlet one by one, only to reveal that he had the power source with him all along in the form of one of his earrings.

Now that the power of the Reality Gauntlet was his to command, Freakshow immediately used the Gem of Life on the weapons the Guys in White were holding, causing them to come to life and trap both of them.

However, Freakshow also discovered that the Reality Gauntlet could not be used to its fullest extent unless the wearer were to operate the gems in the correct order and since he didn't know what the order was his power was limited.

With this in mind, Freakshow freed Lydia and escaped, his intentions being to make himself the ringmaster of all of reality and take over the world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The last day of school was finally over, and summer vacation could at last begin, and the students couldn't be happier about it.

Danny made his way out of the school with Leo by his side "Finally, I've been looking forward to this summer vacation forever!"

Leo nodded "I know what you mean, if I have to listen to one more crack about Tetzlaff's love life I'm gonna lose it."

"So what's our plan for training now that school's out?"

"Simple, for you to enjoy the Dumpty Humpty concert while me and my brother head up to Wisconsin for a couple of days."

"...You mean to see Vlad?"

"Yeah, look I know how you feel about Vlad but I'm gonna be fine."

"Yeah I know but…"

"What, do you really not trust him alone with me and my brother that much?"

"No it's not that, it's just… You know what it can wait, just enjoy your trip."

"Are you sure man? You know you can always talk to me if something is bugging you."

"Yeah I know but seriously, it's nothing important."

"If you say so. Well later, see you in a week." and he departed.

' _Vlad huh? Ever since that gigantic fight I had with my evil future self and I learned the truth about Vlad and his ghost half I haven't been able to stop thinking about him. The only problem is I can't risk telling anyone without him finding out, not even Leo. I guess all I can do is keep trying to find a way to save Vlad from his evil half, even if it does mean costing him his ghost powers.'_ he sat on a bench outside of the school as he started at the 3 fliers in his hands ' _Well it looks like me, Tucker and Sam are doing our own things this summer and scattering across the country as a result. I'm going with my family to Cape Canaveral Space Center in sunny Florida, Tucker is going with his family to the comic book, sci fi and fantasy expo in sunny San Diego California, and Sam is going to Gothapalooza in the bleak desert of Nevada. Tucker and Sam already left yesterday though, and Kwan and Star are off But tonight I can meet up with them and rock out at the end of the year Dumpty Humpty concert. I still feel bad about going to the last one with Leo and missing Sam's birthday, I promised Sam I would make it up to her when she got back from her trip, but for now I've got nothing. Leo already left to go with Raphael to visit Plasmius up in Wisconsin, he said it was okay since Vlad liked his dad even though he hates mine. Still though, it's a school's out concert and I'm all alone.'_

"Hey Danny."

' _Or maybe not.'_ Danny looked up and saw Jazz sitting down next to him on the bench "Oh hey, I thought you were gonna be working on your thesis."

"Yeah I was but I saw my baby brother sitting all alone on the last day of school."

"I'm not a baby anymore you know." he checked out the books that she was holding "What the hell? _Ghost Envy For Dimwits? Ghosts are not the boss of me?_ Are you serious?"

"Yes, ghost envy is what I'm doing for my college entrance thesis. I mean sure college is still a full year and a half away for me but you can never be too prepared can you?"

"I guess not, but anyway Jazz I was wondering…"

"Yeah?"

"Well since the concert is tonight and I don't have anyone to go with, you think it would be alright if we… went together?"

"...Sure, I don't see why not."

"Great, you know it's been forever since we-" he was cut off when everyone started panicking and screaming "What the hell is going on?"

"I'm guessing that would be because of her." Jazz pointed upwards to where Lydia was spreading out her ghost tattoos and causing all sorts of chaos, only to be caught by one of the bat tattoos herself.

"Jazz!" thinking quick about the situation at hand, Danny found a place to hide and flashed into his ghost form, then surveyed the situation.

Paulina was being harassed by three tattoo animal ghosts "Get away from me!"

"Duck and cover!" Danny fired a quick barrage of finger beams at each of the tattoo ghosts.

"He loves! He loves me not! He loves me!" note how she said one of these after each finger ray hit.

"...Sure, why don't we go with that. _Now to beat the crap out of whoever tried to mess with my sister.'_ and Danny flew off at full speed.

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Jazz found herself in a trainyard, now bound by the ghost bat that was carrying her ' _Well this is just great, this is worse than when I visited that creepy albino ringmaster in prison to get an example of someone with ghost envy.'_

"Hello my dear." this was when Freakshow appeared before her.

"Oh joy, Freakshow."

"In the anemic flesh my dear, tell me how's Tricks? Have a nice 6 months while I was rotting in jail because of your dear younger brother and his friends?"

An Ecto Ray sent him crashing to the ground, courtesy of a thoroughly pissed off Danny "Well actually yeah I did, it gave me some time to work on my aim, learn a few new tricks and the like."

Freakshow blasted the fence beneath Danny, bringing it to life and causing it to rap around him like a sort of cocoon "Looks like we found something in common. Say hello to the Reality Gauntlet, which is now twice as powerful as it was before now that I've learned how to activate the Gem of Form." he fired a blast at two nearby tankers and transformed both of them into gigantic ugly robot golems.

Danny unleashed a small burst of fire and easily broke free of the net cocoon "So what the hell are these things supposed to do, rust on me?"

"And Freakshow said, let there be life!" Freakshow hit the golems with a blast from the Gem of Life, bringing both of them to life.

Danny dodged an attempt to smash him to the ground by one of them, only for the other to grab him by the back of his jumpsuit with its teeth and shake him around like a dog shaking a chew toy before sending him crashing to the ground in front of Freakshow "Ow…"

"Well that's odd, I commanded it to eat you. I must need more practice with this."

That was when Agents O and K of the Guys in White arrived on the scene "The Reality Gauntlet is active, this is bad."

Agent K nodded "Very bad, when I file a report I shall be affixing the blame on this matter to you."

"Not if I affix it to you first. Freeze freaks!"

Freakshow shot them a malicious smirk "Freeze? Well if you insist!" he fired a blast at a cloud above them, transforming it into a gigantic snowman and causing it to fall on top of both of them, burying them underneath it "Now where were we? Oh yes of course." he grabbed Danny by the front of his jumpsuit "I was going to ruin your life the very same way that you ruined mine."

"I think we can beg to differ on that. **Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword!"** Danny covered his right fist with his left palm and separated them, creating a long sword made entirely out of ecto energy infused ice, and slashed Freakshow across the chest with the blade, sending him tumbling backwards "Looks like the show is over for you you sick albino freak." he rose the sword and prepared to aim for the Reality Gauntlet, only to be suckerpunched away by Lydia while his guard was down.

"It appears that our grand showdown is going to require a bigger audience." Freakshow promptly summoned his Circus Gothica train "A much bigger audience!" as he had Lydia recall her bat tattoo, freeing Jazz in the process, he used the Gem of Life to bring the train to life, granting it gigantic bat wings that allowed it to fly into the distance.

"Son of a bitch, he got away." Danny helped Jazz to her feet "Are you alright?"

Jazz nodded "I'll be fine, but what are we gonna do about him?"

Danny looked and saw the Guys in White pop up from the snow "I'll let those two deal with tracking him down for now, but if this Reality Gauntlet or whatever is as powerful as that little display made it look then I've gotta do some research on this thing. But in the meantime, there are two words that I've been wanting to hear for a good long while and now I get to hear them with my big sister."

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"DUMPTY HUMPTY! DUMPTY HUMPTY!" every student in the stadium was cheering for the concert to start already.

Danny watched eagerly as smoke covered the entire stage, but when he looked over at Jazz his excitement faded away and his face saddened ' _From what I overheard from Leo and Jazz talking this morning she really does miss how we used to talk and hang out all the time like when we were younger, and I never thought about it before then but I do too. I should at least give her this before I go out to deal with Freakshow._ Hey Jazz, listen…"

"Hold on." Jazz looked up from the book she had been looking over "According to this book that I found in the library the Reality Gauntlet consists of a total of 5 Reality Gems which-"

"Jazz come on, we never get to do stuff like this anymore and I kind of want to enjoy it."

"Just take a look at the author." she showed it to him "I think you're gonna be interested after you see who wrote it."

"What, some guy named Frederich Isen Showenhower?"

"Yeah but when you look at it like this…" Jazz folded the page over slightly, revealing the true identity of the author.

"Freakshow? Yeah now that I think about it leaving the Guys in White to go after him by themselves may have been a bad idea."

"You think?"

"Look I'll go track down Freakshow the minute the concert is over, but for now let's just enjoy this time together alright?" he looked up "Oh man this is my favorite part, this is where all of the band comes out of a gigantic egg."

However, as the smoke on the stage cleared the egg suddenly came to life and roared out at the audience, revealing the band members inside gasping for air.

"Oh crap."

That was when Freakshow suddenly appeared on the stage "I hope you kids are ready to have a great summer, because Dumpty Humpty had a great fall!" he let out a laugh.

"Double crap."

"Danny!" this was when Jazz was caught by Lydia.

"Yeah it's official, for heroes summer break doesn't exist." Danny dove down underneath the bleachers where nobody could see him and flashed into his ghost form.

"Oh but there is only one thing better than an audience my friends, and that is a captive audience!" Freakshow summoned seatbelts in the bleachers, trapping everyone in the audience there.

" **Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fist!"** Danny appeared above the bleachers as he summoned two gauntlets made of ecto infused ice and charged at Freakshow at full speed "The show's over for you Freakshow!"

"Au contraire. That's French for, I'll bet this hurts!" he let his fist covered by the Reality Gauntlet fly.

Danny let his own fist fly, Reality Gauntlet against ice gauntlet, sending out a small shockwave as a result of the clash.

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Things were calm and quiet in Wisconsin, with three men, or should I say two men and one half ghost, discussing some very important business.

"I call." Vlad placed down his hand "7 queens, beat that my boy."

"It's a done deal." Leo placed down his hand "7 aces."

"Again?"

"I'm just that good."

"Oh for-" Vlad looked at the TV "Oh no."

"What's the matter?"

"I believe you may want to take a look at this."

Leo did so, and he let out a groan "Oh god, not the creep albino again."

"And is he wearing what I think he's wearing?"

"The Reality Gauntlet, the Men in Black rejects showed up at my house this morning asking for information about it. I told them what I knew about it, no more and no less."

"I see."

"Hold on, I wanna hear what they're saying."

" _It's ghost based chaos at the Casper High school's out concert where notorious ghost kid we know as Amity Park's own Danny Phantom is currently fighting for his afterlife.'_

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"Have another taste of the Gem of Life!" Freakshow hit the drum set with an ecto blast from the Reality Gauntlet, bringing it to life and causing it to take on the form of a gigantic drum spider of some sort, and he sicked it on Danny, laughing maniacally all the while.

"Have a taste of my cold snap!" Danny sent one ice gauntlet covered fist forward, destroying the drum spider in a fiery explosion, the force severely damaging the stage and sending Danny flying and crashing to the ground on the football field.

"Any last words my boy? Might I suggest something along the lines of, "Oh no Freakshow, please don't hurt me." or something."

Seeing Danny in trouble, Jazz pulled Lydia's hood over her face, sending her flying away screaming "Leave him alone!" she grabbed the book and threw it at Freakshow, knocking him to the ground.

Freakshow picked himself back up off of the ground and smirked when he saw the book "I see you and I have the same taste in authors."

Jazz kicked the book out of his grasp and grabbed onto the Reality Gauntlet.

"And in gloves apparently, let go of me girl!"

Jazz only tightened her grip, accidentally touching the Gem of Time and the Gem of Form, leading them to be lifted into mid air.

"Jazz!" seeing Jazz in trouble, Danny quickly found his second wind and flew up to join them, in which he grabbed onto the Reality Gauntlet.

"Let go of me!" Freakshow tried to shake them off.

"Remember Jazz, don't let go no matter what!" Danny grabbed onto the Gem of Life and the Gem of Fantasy, with Jazz grabbing onto the Gem of Form and the Gem of Time, both of them doing this in that specific order, taking Freakshow by surprise.

"You did it, you found the combination that activates all of the Reality Gems which means that I can now control all of reality!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it cueball! Alright Jazz, what's the plan?"

"The plan is that as long as we're touching the Reality Gauntlet we have just as much control over its power as he does." Jazz told him "According to the book I was reading, the Reality Gauntlet has a defense mechanism. Try and think of a place to hide the Reality Gems that you're touching right now."

"Right." Danny closed his eyes and the Gems of Life and Fantasy both disappeared.

Jazz closed her own eyes and the Gems of Form and Time both disappeared.

"No, NO!" Freakshow could only scream in rage before an explosion ensued.

When the blast subsided, Jazz found herself back on the stage and looked around to see everything being set right, from the drum set being back where it originally stood to the seatbelts binding the audience to the bleachers all disappearing ' _Yes, it worked!'_

However, that was when a pissed off Freakshow landed on the stage "Curses, all of the gems are gone. We must flee, but dramatically!" so he summoned Lydia and fled in a dramatic fashion into the night sky.

' _Well he's gone, but what about Danny?'_

That was when Danny crashed down onto the stage, severely weakened by the battle, and he unwillingly transformed back into his human form, only for everyone to see "Uh…" he looked around ' _Okay let's see here. Everyone in the bleachers, check. News helicopter right above me, check. Guys in White on jetpacks, check. Only option left? Desperation._ Okay, so nobody saw that right? Jazz?"

"They did."

"Yeah I know, I just had to check."

"Holy son of a sweatsock!" Dash blurted out "Danny Fen-Turd is Danny _Phan_ -Turd?!"

Paulina clearly saw this as a positive thing "And he's totally infatuated with me, this makes things so much easier. For me!"

Danny let out a groan ' _What the hell did I ever see in her? Maybe Leo's right, I really oughta just ask Sam out before someone else gets to her like that one Hungarian-Michigan or whatever goth guy.'_

Jazz looked around and noticed everyone in the audience climbing onto the stage and making their way towards Danny, and she quickly got in between them "Back you hairy underachieving beasts, back!"

"Jazz…"

"Back savages, move it!" this was when another figure showed up on the scene "I've got your back Danny."

"Valerie?"

"I told you I was gonna make it up to you and that's what I'm gonna do, I'm the kind of girl who makes up for her mistakes. Besides, it could be worse?"

"Oh really, how could my secret being revealed to the entire world, including my ghost hunting and ghost hating dad, possibly get any worse?"

"Nobody move." this was when the Guys in White dropped down onto the stage.

"...Oh. That's how."

"You're coming in for questioning and for experiments, lots and lots of really painful experiments."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Jazz, Valerie, both of you grab onto me and hold on as tight as you can. I'm going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form and took to the skies, drawing cheers from everyone in the crowd.

"Wow, looks like you're a rock star now." Valerie noted.

"Yep." Danny unintentionally powered back down to his base form "A rock star who can't do anything."

"So basically a rock star."

"Yep." they fell to the ground and landed back on the stage with a loud thud.

"What happened?" asked Jazz.

"That explosion with the Reality Gauntlet must have messed with my ghost powers."

"I'll hold these two off, you guys just get out of here." Valerie pulled a couple of smoke bombs out of her bag and handed them to him, then armored up "Just go!"

"Valerie… consider us even." Danny threw down the smoke bombs, covering the entire stage, and when the smoke cleared, he and Jazz were nowhere in sight.

"He's lost his ghost powers, get him!" the Guys in White prepared to pursue him.

However, a fully armored up and clearly pissed off Valerie blocked their way "You're gonna have to get past me first."

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Leo watched the events unfold on the screen as he sipped a cup of coffee nonchalantly "This would make a great movie."

Vlad raised an eyebrow "You're not even the least bit concerned about the two of them?"

"Are you?"

"That's a different subject."

"Look I am Danny's friend but I'm also his teacher, which means that I have to know when to let him fight battles on his own. Besides he's got Jazz with him, I'm sure he'll be fine." he heard his phone ringing and pulled it out of his pocket "This is Hunter. Oh hey Sam. Yeah I know, I'm seeing it on the news right now. I'm in Wisconsin. Yes that Wisconsin. Anyway I thought you and Tucker were out of state for your family vacations over summer. Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense. Look I'll be back as soon as I can alright? Okay bye." he hung up "Well apparently Sam and Tucker's parents are freaking out over Danny being half ghost and now they're going over to confront Danny's parents, or more specifically his dad."

"Oh yes of course, his mother was already aware of his ghost abilities. I have to ask though, is she aware of my… you know?"

"As far as I'm aware, no."

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Morning came, and things were calm. Or they would be if this were about someone else.

Danny peaked around the corner and looked out at the Fenton Works "Okay Jazz, just wait here for me. I'll zip in and get my stuff-"

"Let me stop you right there." Jazz cut him off "What exactly is your plan from there, to run away from home?"

"Well it's not like I have any other choice, I mean the whole world knows my secret and I'm not gonna let you guys be hounded by the government or anything because of my screwups. I'm doing this to protect all of you."

"But there is a way to fix this Danny, all you have to do is get the Reality Gauntlet and then you can change reality so that none of this ever happened."

"Yeah but we'd have to find all of the Reality Gems and who knows how long that will take, not to mention that I would have to get the Reality Gauntlet itself from Freakshow and who knows how hard that's gonna be." Danny led her inside "Believe me Jazz, for the time being it's gonna be a lot better for everyone if I just-" he turned on the lights and looked ahead "-disappear. Son of a bitch."

Yep, it turns out the Guys in White were armed and waiting for him "Seize the human!" several of the men caught Jazz from behind.

"For those not counting, that's 3 times I've been grabbed in the past 2 days." Jazz pointed out dryly "And none of them were by ghosts."

"The human is secure, take down the ghost child."

"Where are my mom and dad?" Danny snarled "What the hell did you do to them?" in his anger he failed to notice Lydia phase in invisibly and slip two of her ghost tattoos onto Danny and Jazz before she disappeared without being noticed by any of them.

"Daniel Fenton, in accordance with the federal anti ecto control act, article 1, section 1, subsection A, you're under arrest."

"I'm gonna give you sons of bitches one warning and only one warning, let my sister go and get the hell out of my house!"

"Or what?"

"Or this!" Danny ran over towards the wall, pulled out a hammer and broke the glass surrounding a button labeled to only be used for emergencies, then pressed it, and an alarm began sounding.

" _Fenton Works anti-creep mode activated. Our special today is fudge- I mean pain."_ claws extended from within the walls and began grabbing agents out of nowhere.

"Fire ecto weapons!" the Guys in White began firing weapons at Danny, only for a gigantic glass shield that looked exactly like Jack to protect him and Jazz.

Danny watched the carnage unfolding and smirked ' _Hey you can't say I didn't warn them.'_

"Did you really have to activate the anti creep mode?" asked Jazz.

"Hey I told them to let you go and they didn't, this is what happens when people hurt the people I care about."

"Yeah but that means that you can't go ghost either or the house will think that you're an enemy too."

"Oh yeah that reminds me, run!" they made a beeline towards the stairs, only to stop when some of the agents tried to pounce on them, but they were blasted and bound to the wall.

"Where are mom and dad anyway?"

"My best guess is looking for me, or a scalpel to dissect me with."

"Danny you know mom would never do that."

"I know, but it's dad I'm worried about. Look we don't have time for this, let's move!" they made their way towards the stairs.

However, another agent appeared in front of them "Freeze!"

"Alright, if you say so."

Said agent was promptly slammed into the wall repeatedly by metal cutouts of Jack and Maddie before tumbling down the stairs.

"Keep moving!" Danny led Jazz into Jack and Maddie's bedroom and pulled a round rug off of the ground, revealing a sort of metal manhole cover "2 to the Ops Center!" a metal tube surrounded them and they were sucked upwards.

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The Emergency Ops Center was quiet.

That is, until Danny stepped out of the fridge, with Jazz right behind him "Note to self, once I fix reality I have to remind dad to get rid of that ham."

"He did last week." Jazz told him dryly.

"Oh. Crap."

"Try being forced to sniff it out." she looked out and noticed the Guys in White all climbing up to the Ops Center "This is bad, they're coming fast."

"Well then I think it's time to lock up for the night!" Danny quickly punched in the code and put the Ops Center on lockdown, only to notice them beginning to cut through with a laser "Jazz quick, hit the emergency release button!"

"Right!" Jazz swung the fridge door open and pressed the other button, transforming the Ops Center into a blimp and setting it adrift into the skies of Amity Park "The Fenton Blimp? What are we supposed to do Danny, bore them off of our trail in a low speed chase?!"

"Hey this isn't an episode of Robot and Monster, I've got something much better in mind for these guys." he picked up the ham and pressed the button hidden underneath it, transforming the blimp into a super fast jet "How do you like that one?"

"I'll like it a lot better when you GET INTO THE DRIVER'S SEAT!"

"Oh crap, right!" Danny bolted into the driver's seat and found Casper High sitting right in their path "Oh crap."

"We're going to destroy the school!"

"I don't know what to do!"

"Hit the auto dad button!"

"Oh yeah right." Danny hit the Auto Jack button and sat back with Jazz.

An inflatable copy of Jack appeared in the pilot's seat " _Auto Jack activated, please buckle up and pass the punch."_

"You heard the inflatable dad, buckle up!" Danny quickly buckled up, with Jazz doing the same, and they narrowly avoided hitting the school before bursting out of the city limits, only to notice the Guys in White following them in fighter planes "Son of a bitch!"

"It's after 5." Jazz grumbled "It's times like this you wish they would quit like every other government employee."

"Just hold on Jazz, I'll make this quick." Danny flashed into his ghost form and used his powers the jet invisible, unaware of the fact that they put a tracking device on the ship.

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Morning came.

Jazz let out a sigh "Danny we lost them yesterday, I'm pretty sure it's safe for you to stop now."

"Alright." Danny gave up on keeping the ship intangible and powered back down to his human from from sheer exhaustion.

"We really should try to get into contact with Leo."

"And tell him what? Sorry I blew my secret and now I'm running for my life from my family and everything I know and I'm dragging my sister with me? I'm not trying to contact mom or dad either, what am I supposed to say to dad? I'm sorry I've been lying to you for almost a year, please don't rip me apart molecule by molecule or disown me or anything? Besides, if any of them have anything to say to me then they could always contact me. But I don't really have anything to say to Leo right now."

"Why not? He could help us."

"I know he could get us out of this no problem, but to be honest there's a part of me that wants to prove I can get through this whole thing without his help." he looked and noticed the communication console beeping "And just like that, here we go." he pressed the button.

However, Freakshow was the one who appeared on the screen " _Oh hello, I hope I'm not interrupting the worst day of your life ever! But it would seem that I need your help."_

"You miserable freak, give me one good reason why I should ever help someone like you."

"Oh I'm terribly sorry, did I say need? I meant demand." with a malicious laugh, he moved out of the way, revealing Tucker, Sam, Kwan, Star, Valerie and their families, not to mention Jack and Maddie, all being held captive by him.

' _Dammit this is bad, he's got Tucker and Sam and all of them!_ What's your game Freakshow, why would you drag them into something that doesn't concern them?"

"Well it's quite simple my boy, I have something you want and you know the location of something that I want: the Reality Gems, which the two of you will retrieve and bring back to me if you ever want to see your families alive again. Oh and just for the sake of keeping things dramatic, I'm giving you 4 days." with a maniacal laugh, he signed off.

"Dammit!" Danny slammed his fist into a wall out of pure frustration "Why is it that whenever I try to do good something like this happens?! First it was Walker with that stunt with the mayor, then that whole thing with my evil future self, and now this!"

"Danny get ahold of yourself." Jazz called him off, calming him down somewhat "You heard what he said, we have to find the other Reality Gems within 4 days."

"But how are we supposed to do that? We don't even know where to start looking!"

"You mean you don't know where to start looking, I'm the one who read the book. We're the ones who hid the Reality Gems remember? What places were you thinking about when you touched the Reality Gems?"

"Well I was thinking about the comic book convention Tucker was gonna go to in San Diego and the space center in Florida. What about you?"

"Well I was thinking about Sam's Gothapalooza in Nevada for one of them and for the other… I was thinking about where they filmed that show we always used to watch together."

"What are you- Oh you mean Legends of the Hidden Temple."

"Yeah that show was amazing, I always loved it for its history aspects."

"And I loved it for the fact that it was a 90's game show that could scare the crap out of people."

"So it looks like we're going to Nickelodeon Studios too."

"But we're going here first." Danny pointed to Cape Canaveral on a map of the US.

" _Auto Jack setting new course for Cape Canaveral, Florida."_

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Hours passed, and Cape Canaveral was within their sights.

Danny looked out at the space center below them "Alright Jazz, anything else on the Reality Gems?"

Jazz looked in the book "According to what Freakshow wrote about it the Reality Gems are activated by touch, so as long as nobody found it yet then maybe this will be easy."

"Jazz life lesson number 1, whenever someone says that something is gonna be easy it becomes thousands of times harder." he looked ahead of them and saw an angry living space shuttle shooting towards them with the Gem of Life on its nose "Like that."

"So we're about to be eaten by a gigantic living space shuttle."

"Looks like it." the space shuttle chomped down on the Fenton Jet "I'm going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form and phased the Fenton Jet out of the mouth of the space shuttle "Jazz stay here, I'll take care of it." he made his way out of the Fenton Jet and hit the space shuttle with a barrage of Ecto Rays.

The space shuttle wasn't even fazed and rammed into him, giving him a clear view of the Gem of Life in the pilot's seat.

' _Yes, there it is!'_ he got thrown off and sent crashing to the ground in a crater "Ow…"

Jazz landed the Fenton Jet close to where he landed "Danny hurry, go get the gem!"

"I know!" Danny flew up and grabbed onto the space shuttle by its fin.

The space shuttle let out a roar and tried to shake him off.

' _Come on Danny, you can do this!'_ Danny slowly inched his way forward, closer and closer to the cockpit, causing a chunk of the outer hull to peel away as he gripped onto it "You know I always wanted to ride a space shuttle, I just never imagined that I would be riding on the outside of it!" he forced his way forward and managed to phase his way into the cockpit, where he picked up the Gem of Life "Yes, I've got it!"

Unfortunately, this caused the shuttle to revert to its inanimate form and begin falling towards the ground, directly above the Fenton Jet.

"Jazz!" seeing that his sister would never survive such an impact, Danny phased his way into the cockpit of the shuttle, his mind racing "Okay Danny, you can do this. You've run this simulation about million times on your computer at home." he hit a number of buttons and switches, activating the landing gear, and he pulled back on the controls as hard as he could, allowing the shuttle to narrowly miss the Fenton Jet as it landed on the ground and came to a stop "Okay, that was way too close." he phased his way back out "Ladies and gentlemen, the eagle has officially landed intact!"

Unfortunately, that was when the Guys in White showed up and ruined the moment " _Attention Daniel Fenton, AKA Danny Phantom, give yourself up."_ they fired a torpedo at the Fenton Jet, destroying it in an instant.

"Jazz!" Danny rounded on them in a rage "You sons of-"

"Danny it's alright." Jazz emerged from the smoke on a motorcart, completely unharmed "I'm not hurt."

"Oh thank god. Come on, let's get out of here." he grabbed her by the motorcart and phased them into the ground.

Agent O scowled "We lost visual, again!"

"Don't worry, they won't get far." Agent K assured him "We've got sensors everywhere."

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Danny led Jazz above the streets of Florida "Alright, Nickelodeon Studios shouldn't be very far away from this point-" he was cut off by a thunderous roar and electricity zapping all over the sky over the studio "What the hell is that?!"

"It looks like some kind of wormhole over the studio." Jazz noted "I'm guessing that means we found the Gem of Time."

"Looks like it." he set her motorcart down on the ground "Jazz wait here, I'll go in and bring back the Gem of Time." and he flew into the wormhole and disappeared with a massive flash of light.

' _Just be careful Danny.'_

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Danny uncovered his eyes and looked around, being sure to use his powers to keep himself invisible ' _Where the hell am I? A moat, a set of steps, a bunch of teams wearing different colored animal t shirts sitting on the sidelines… That wormhole must have sent me back in time to the airing of an episode of Legends of the Hidden Temple! Yes, I've always wanted to see one of these live! I mean sure the movie was good but this has a ton more suspense. The question is, which episode is it? Oh yeah, and where's the Gem of Time?'_ he looked down ' _Okay so we've got Kirk Fogg in front of the camera, the Red Jaguars are going to the temple, yeah like that really narrows it down.'_

Sure enough, Kirk appeared in front of the camera with the Red Jaguars "Welcome back, Kim and Nick have proven themselves worthy and now they've earned the right to enter Olmec's temple. But before they get started Olmec is gonna give them some information that will help them retrieve the missing weather maps of Charles Lindbergh."

' _Oh yeah, this is one of those failed runs to get an artifact out from the Dark Forest. I'm pretty sure the Temple guards are in the Ledges, the King's Storeroom and the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. Oh wait, Olmec is giving information.'_

" **You could start by climbing through the Ledges and climbing down into the Pit, then race into the Laser Light Room. Unleash the power of the special white laser and you could choose to go up into the Room of the Mandarin Hand, or into the Jester's Court. Press yourself against the right wall painting and you might have a chance to enter the Dark Forest, where you can grab the missing weather maps of Charles Lindbergh. Reach into the hole and find the key, but be careful. One of the trees could be inhabited by the spirit of a Temple Guard, if they grab you then you'll have to give up a pendant of life. Next, plow through the wall and into the Mine Shaft. There, ride the elevator up into the Room of the Secret Password. Find the tablet with the right password and shout it out to open the door to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. Assemble the statue there and you may be headed for the King's Storeroom. Smash the clay pots to find the key which will allow you into the observatory. Put together the puzzle on the stone column and swing on the rope back across the pit. Then pass through the Crypt, race down the stairs and back through the temple gate."**

Danny looked around and noticed a glowing green gem on one of the trees in the Dark Forest, much to his joy ' _Perfect, there it is! All I have to do is get the Gem of Time and I can get out of here!'_ but then a thought occurred to him ' _But then again, I guess it wouldn't hurt to help these guys out since the run turns out so bad. If I remember correctly then Nick was the first one to go but he encounters the Temple Guards in the Ledges and the King's Storeroom, I have to think about which one to possess. Or maybe I can overshadow the first one until he gets taken out then fly over to her and overshadow her just in the nick of time. Yes, that might work.'_

" **The choices are yours and yours alone. You won 2 pendants in the Temple Games. Who is going first?"**

Danny quickly took this chance to overshadow Nick and take over his body "I am."

" **Very well Nick. When Kirk gives the signal, you will race through the gates into the temple and make your way towards the missing weather maps. Hidden inside the temple are Temple Guards assigned to protect 3 specific rooms. You can trade your pendant for an extra life and go on but if you're caught without a pendant then you'll be taken out of the temple and it will be Kim's turn to enter and try her luck. If you can reach the missing weather maps then all of the doors in the temple will instantly unlock and the Temple Guards will vanish. Return through the gates with the missing weather maps of Charles Lindbergh and you will both be handsomely rewarded, and here's how!"**

' _Yeah blah blah blah, I know how this part works. For just reaching the temple these things get a microscope, grab the missing weather maps within 3 minutes and these kids will get some bikes or something, bring the missing weather maps out of the temple within 3 minutes and they get to go to space camp.'_

Kirk positioned Danny outside the temple gate "The Red Jaguars said that they can do it so let's see. Alright Nick, let's get into position. Let's set the clock for 3 minutes. Olmec lower your gate." the gate was lowered.

' _Okay, here goes nothing.'_

"On your mark, get set, go!"

Danny took off running up the stairs to the Crypt and pulled the book from the second skeleton, opening the door with 2:48 on the clock ' _Okay, now to avoid the dead end in the Jester's Court by going straight to the Room of the Mandarin Hand.'_ he went into the Room of the Mandarin Hand and put the fingers on the globe, opening the door to the King's Storeroom with 2:32 left on the clock ' _Alright, this is where I'll find the first Temple Guard.'_ he made his way into the King's Storeroom and managed to break a single pot.

That is, before the first Temple Guard made himself known.

Danny handed him the pendant "Here."

The Temple Guard left.

' _Okay, now where were we?'_ Danny broke 2 more pots before he found the key ' _Perfect, next stop is the Shrine of the Silver Monkey!'_ he slammed the key into the hole in the door and raced into the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, only to find another Temple Guard there ' _1 minute 56 seconds left. Looks like Nick has done his part.'_ he flew out of Nick's body while remaining invisible and quickly flew into Kim's body, overshadowing her ' _Alright, here goes!'_ now inside her body, he took off again, repeating his same path until he finally made his way back to the Shrine of the Silver Monkey with 1 minute 22 seconds left on the clock ' _Alright, now for the part that comes off as way harder than it should be.'_ he spent 30 seconds in the room but managed to figure it out without much trouble, leaving a total of 54 seconds left on the clock ' _Okay I should have plenty of time now to get to the map and the Gem of Time.'_ he made his way down into the Dark Forest and grabbed the missing weather maps off of one of the trees ' _Perfect, all of the doors are unlocked and the last Temple Guard in the Ledges is gone. Now all I have to do is get out of here and I've still got 44 seconds!'_ he made a beeline along the bottom level through the Jester's Court, the Laser Light Room and the Pit, before climbing his way up the Ledges and rushing down the stairs and out of the temple "I've got it!"

"She's got it!" Kirk held up the missing weather maps in triumph "They've done it, they've got everything! They've got the microscope, they've got the bikes and they're going to space camp! They both had a great time and they played a great game. We had a great time too, join us again next time for another Legend of the Hidden Temple. See ya!"

Danny took this moment to leave Kim's body and snatch the Gem of Time ' _Okay that was totally awesome, but all the same I really should hurry and undo this. It was an amazing show but its time has come to an end.'_ he held up the Gem of Time and unleashed a blast from it, erasing everything from the Legends of the Hidden Temple as a result, leaving him alone with the Gem of Time in an empty studio.

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Jazz waited outside and watched as the wormhole disappeared ' _The wormhole is gone now, I guess that means Danny got the Gem of Time.'_

"Jazz!" sure enough, Danny emerged with the Gem of Time in his hand "Alright let's move, I' don't want to have to deal with the Men in Black rejects any more than we have to or get anyone caught in the crossfire."

"Right, let's go."

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The streets of Florida on a rural highway.

The police had set up a blockade in case Danny or Jazz tried to pass " _All units be on the lookout for the ghost boy and his accomplices. I repeat: All units be on the lookout for the ghost boy and his accomplices.'_

Danny put Jazz's motorcars down on the road a fair distance away from the blockade "Alright, I'd better put these Reality Gems in a place where their ghostly energy can't get out." so with that in mind he stuck them in the Fenton Thermos "That should keep them safe for a good long while."

"But it's not like we'll be able to make it across the country to Nevada and San Diego in 2 days on a motor cart." Jazz pointed out.

"Didn't you pay attention during those family meetings?" he pressed a button on her dashboard, converting the motor cart into a hovercraft "Does that work for you?"

"Actually yeah it does."

"Well then shall we? We've still got a world to save from an evil ringmaster." and he flew off into the horizon, with Jazz following him by his side.

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Nightfall came, and things were calm in Amity Park, at least for the people that were being held captive by Freakshow.

Sam's father turned to Tucker's "This is Fenton's fault, pass it down."

Tucker's father turned to Jack "This is Fenton's fault, pass it down."

Jack turned to Maddie "This is- Wait a minute!"

"Settle down now Jack, it's alright." Maddie told him "I can imagine that all of this business about Danny being the ghost boy has you really confused and baffled."

"I know Maddie, I just can't wrap my head around it. I can't imagine it Maddie, our own son has had ghost powers for almost an entire year and yet he kept them a secret from us. But we love him! I don't understand, why wouldn't he trust us enough to tell us?"

"...I think there's someone else you should hear this from." Maddie pulled something out of her jumpsuit, a device that looked like a stopwatch.

"What's that thing?"

"Something Leo gave me a few weeks ago." she put it on the ground in front of them and pushed the button.

"I don't get it."

This was followed by the appearance of a holographic image of Leo appearing in one of the rooms of Vlad's castle, clad in a white collared shirt, a pair of white socks and a pair of shades, using a dust mop as a microphone and playing and dancing to a certain classic " _ **Just take them old records off the shelf! I'll sit and listen to them by myself! Today's music ain't got the same soul! I like that old time rock and roll! Don't try and take me to the disco! You'll never even get me out on the floor! In 10 minutes I'll be late for the door! I like that old time rock and roll! I like that old time rock and roll! I like that old time rock and roll! That kind of music just soothes the soul-"**_ he paused when he finally noticed that they were watching him " _Uh… Hey. How long have you guys been watching?"_

"Long enough to have more important things on our plate." Maddie told him dryly.

" _Oh yeah right."_ he sat on a bed " _So Danny and Jazz are still off searching for the Reality Gems across the country?"_

"Yes but that's not why I called you."

" _It's because you want me to talk to his dad. Alright, where is he?"_

"I'm right here." Jack told him.

" _Start talking big guy, what do you wanna know?"_

"Everything. My own son has had ghost powers for almost a year and he's kept them a secret from me. But I love him, why wouldn't he trust me enough to tell me?"

" _...You're kidding right?"_

"Of course not!"

" _Well then let me spell it out for you._ Hey Maddie let's destroy the ghost! No wait, let's dissect the ghost! Oh no wait I've got it, when I get my hands on those ghost kids I'll tear them apart molecule by molecule! _Yeah that just screams loving and understanding father."_

"But that-"

" _-was 3 days ago. Face it man, you were so busy ranting over wanting to kill ghosts that it left the poor guy terrified of the thought of telling you."_

"But he's my son, I would never hurt him ghost or not! I love Danny for who he is, whether he's ghost or boy or something in between!"

" _Tell that to him not me, he's the one terrified of confronting you. He needs to hear it from you and only you face to face. That's all the advice I can offer you and be warned, if you try to hurt him then I won't hold back."_ and the hologram disappeared.

This was when Freakshow made his way towards them "Your beloved children has but one more day to return my Reality Gems to me, and if they should fail then let's just say that I have some big plans."

"So that's it?" asked Maddie "That's basically the equivalent of us just sitting around until you get these gems back, and to be honest that really doesn't make you much of a bad guy."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well I mean it's not like you have any powers and technically Lydia is far more powerful than you so without her…"

"I WILL NOT! BE UPSTAGED! BY GHOSTS!" and cue the crazy bad guy eye twitching.

"Wow, jealous much?"

"Of ghosts? That couldn't be further from the truth, I love ghosts. I've worked with them all of my life."

"By seeking to control them, that's ghost envy if I've ever seen it. You know now that I think about it you would be a perfect example for my daughter's thesis for her college entrance essay."

"I DON'T HAVE GHOST ENVY!"

Lydia phased out of one of the train cars.

"USE THE DOOR LIKE A PERSON!"

Her eyebrows shot up in confusion.

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The sky was pitch black across the state of Nevada.

"Here it is." Danny led Jazz along the road "Gothapalooza shouldn't be too far away."

Jazz nodded "All we have to do is grab the Gem of Form and then we move on to the comic book convention in San Diego."

"Right. Too bad Sam isn't here right now, she would love this. I mean for crying out loud it's the ultimate celebration of despair and darkness." he looked and saw the exact opposite of what he just said, that being a cutesy world of happiness and teddy bears, as in lots and lots of teddy bears "Oh boy." they set down in a field of flowers "It may just be the fact that I spend a lot more time with Sam than I probably should but this is so wrong on so many levels."

"We love you!" the massive army of teddy bears all converged on them and began hugging them to death.

' _Let's see, what would Sam do in this situation? Well she'd probably find the gem that did this and rip the stuffing out of every last one of them. No I doubt that's necessary._ May I have the Gem of Form?"

"Say the magic word!"

' _Die? No, get the Sam thoughts out of your head._ Please?"

They cleared away and one teddy bear approached them with the Gem of Form.

"Thank you." Danny then proceeded to use the Gem of Form to turn everything back to how it was originally, the true ultimate display celebration of despair, darkness and most of all, questionable hygiene ' _Note to self, never let Sam find out about this.'_ he stuck the Gem of Form in the Fenton Thermos with the Gem of Life and the Gem of Time "That's 3 Reality Gems down and one to go, and less than 24 hours to get to the comic book and find the Gem of Fantasy."

"Hey Danny, I think we've got company." Jazz pointed to where a missile was fired at a nearby mountain, courtesy of the Guys in White.

"Son of a bitch, these guys just don't let up do they?" Danny grabbed Jazz and phased the both of them through a nearby mountain, leaving the Guys in White to vent in fury over letting them get away.

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Danny pulled Jazz out of the mountain and spotted a semi travelling along the road "Perfect, we can hide in there." he phased them into the truck, unaware of an ad promoting information about him on the outside of it, and he set Jazz down "What's this?" he picked up a newspaper "Well that's just great."

"What's the matter?" asked Jazz.

"Take a look." he held it up, revealing a front page headline about how they were missing.

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Morning came, and the truck came to a stop in Hollywood and Vine.

"Alright, I think we should get out here." Danny phased himself and Jazz out of the truck, only to see lots and lots of adds about him, and he found himself swarmed by tourists and the paparazzi "Oh crap."

"I think now might be a good time for us to find a train to the comic book convention." Jazz told him.

"For once we agree." he phased them down below into the Hollywood subway station "Alright, we just have to find that's headed for the comic book convention without drawing any sort of unnecessary attention to me."

"Wow dude, great costume!" a geek in a Danny Phantom costume passed him and headed to the line with a bunch of other geeks.

"Looks like we found our train."

"Looks like it." Jazz followed him into the line "Looks like a lot of you and Sam, does that remind you of anything?"

"Well yeah it reminds me of one thing, that there's a time and a place for trying to ship the thought of me and Sam being together and this is neither of those things!"

However, this was when the Guys in White entered the subway station looking for him "Over there!" they grabbed a figure with white hair and a black jumpsuit "Okay spook boy, this is the end of the line for you."

But it turned out that it was just another geek "Hey paws off buddy, this suit's hand made!"

They looked and saw Danny and Jazz waving at them from within the train before it pulled out of the station "The train's leaving, but we know where it's headed."

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The comic book convention was in full swing.

Danny looked around at the massive swarm of geeks dressed like him and Sam "And yet there isn't a single person who dressed like Tucker."

"Yeah but he's not part of the shipping." Jazz pointed out.

"Not the point. Anyway it looks like everything here is normal."

"Compared to what?"

"Compared to some kind of bozo finding the Reality Gem and activating it, that's the last thing we need right now." he looked and saw a powerful blue light coming from inside the convention center, followed by roaring and growling "And yet I spoke too soon." they rushed inside only to see three seriously hulked out figures "Well that sucks."

"Why? The Gem of Fantasy turned a bunch of geeks into comic book superheroes, they can help us save our parents and friends and everyone else!"

"...Jazz this is a perfectly good example of why you need to read more comic books. They happen to be Crystal Leviathan, the Scarlet Samurai and the Empress She Wolf!"

"What?"

"Those aren't superheroes, they're supervillains!"

"Oh. Well that's bad."

"My point exactly! Hold on a second. **Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fist!"** Danny quickly pulled Jazz out of the way of an energy blast and formed a pair of ice gauntlets ' _I've gotta hurry and get the Reality Gem before these geeks to any serious damage.'_ he dealt Crystal Leviathan a sharp uppercut to the jaw with his ice gauntlets, sending him crashing to the ground and knocking the Gem of Fantasy out of his grip.

However, Crystal Leviathan quickly rebounded and threw Danny into a Danny Phantom stand, causing a biography of him to land on his face.

"Hey! I never approved of this!"

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' _Come on come on!'_ Jazz was running through the convention center at full speed when she found the Gem of Fantasy ' _There it is!'_

However, that was when Empress She Wolf appeared and blocked her way "You shall never pass, so speaks Empress She Wolf!"

"You don't scare me, not when my brother and I are fighting together like the well oiled machine that we are!"

Empress She Wolf morphed into a significantly more wolfy and less humanoid form and let out a roar.

"And now you scare me."

"Jazz get down!" Danny burst onto the scene and pinned Empress She Wolf to the ground with his Cryo Gauntlets, reverting back to her previous state.

This was when the geeks began freaking out "Our comics have come alive, I don't know whether to be horrified or to run and report this on the internet!" and thus everyone started panicking as mass chaos ensued.

' _Great, the other problem with being in geek central. There's thousands of innocent people in here!'_ with this in mind, Danny burst through the roof of the convention center and led Empress She Wolf, Crystal Leviathan and the Scarlet Samurai down the streets of San Diego.

Empress She Wolf fired off an extendable wolf claw attached to a cable and grabbed Danny by the ankle with it, yanking him down and sending him crashing down onto a rooftop.

Danny rolled out of the way of an attempted stomping by Crystal Leviathan and quickly froze him to a nearby flagpole "Alright that's one down, now all I have to do is finish off the rest of the legion of super geeks." he and Scarlet Samurai charged at each other.

Unfortunately, that was when the Guys in White showed up, now thoroughly exhausted from chasing Danny and Jazz all over the country "Man, these cross country ghost chases are like… totally exhausting." and yet the fired at Danny and the Scarlet Samurai, trapping both of them in ecto nets, then turned their attention towards Empress She Wolf and Crystal Leviathan.

Scarlet Samurai was the first one to break free and slashed at their jetpacks, disabling them and sending both of them crashing down onto the rooftop.

Danny took this moment to use his ice powers to forge a sword and carve through the net, freeing himself "Not so fast legion of super rejects! **Fire Dragon's Roar!"** he unleashed a blast of fire, knocking the Gem of Fantasy out of their grasp and reverting them back to normal "Alright, there we go." he took the Gem of Fantasy and took off.

The Guys in White approached the fallen geeks and were obviously disappointed "Hey! You're just a bunch of geeks!"

"I prefer to think of us as enthusiasts." one of them mumbled.

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Danny made his way back to the comic book convention and held up the Gem of Fantasy "Done and done."

Jazz breathed a small sigh of relief "Good work out there Danny, we've got all 4 Reality Gems now."

"And Freakshow only has one of them, that means that once we get back home and find him we can beat him and take the Reality Gauntlet." he failed to notice as Lydia appeared behind him and unleashed a swarm of her ghost tattoos.

However, Jazz did notice "Uh Danny?"

"We can save our friends and family and everyone, and then we can change reality so that nobody remembers I'm half ghost."

"Danny!"

"What?" he looked around "Son of a-" the swarm converged on them and they disappeared.

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Things were quiet in the farm area where Freakshow had set up camp with his train.

Danny suddenly materialized in front of the train along with Jazz, thanks to Lydia and her swarm of bats "We're back home… Just great…"

Freakshow made himself known in front of them "Well well, look here at what the bats dragged in and with all of my missing Reality Gems no less."

Danny stared at the Fenton Thermos in his hand containing the Reality Gems and an idea came to him "I wouldn't be too sure about that!" he prepared to use them on Freakshow, only for the thermos to be stolen from his grasp by a swarm of ghost tattoos.

Freakshow caught the Fenton Thermos in his grasp with a malicious smirk.

"Oh crap." Danny found himself, along with Jazz, bound in place helplessly by all of the ghost tattoos.

Freakshow studied the four Reality Gems in his hand with obvious glee as he placed them into the Reality Gauntlet one by one "The Gem of Life… the Gem of Form… the Gem of Fantasy… the Gem of Time… and putt them with the Gem of Power, and thanks to the two of you I now know how to activate the full power of the Reality Gauntlet!" he began tapping out the sequence on the Reality Gems.

"Dammit!" Danny struggled to break free of his bonds, to no avail "I can't break free!"

Now with the Reality Gauntlet at full power, Freakshow rose up above them on a massive pedestal "Thanks to you, I have now become the ringmaster of all of reality!" he turned day to night with a mere sweep of his hand "Quite remarkable is it not?" he turned his attention towards where Tucker, Sam, their families and everyone else were being held captive with a malicious smirk.

"Let them go Freakshow, it's me that you want not them! I brought you the Reality Gems like you said, we had a deal!"

"The deal my boy was for you to bring me the Reality Gems if you want to see your friends and family alive again. Well here they are, alive. For now that is." he let out a malicious laugh as he teleported all of them, along with Jazz, onto a hellish roller coaster that he created using the power of the Reality Gauntlet, complete with a gigantic jack in the box that breathed fire, two gigantic stone mallets slamming into each other at full force, and ending with Deadman's Drop, which would go into a large pool of acid at the very end of the track, and he had Lydia set the roller coaster of death in motion.

"You son of a bitch, you lied to me!"

"Indeed I did my boy, good for me. But then again, it wouldn't be drama if I didn't give you a sporting chance now would it?" he released Danny of his bonds "Not to mention an audience, a big audience!" with a wave of his hand he summoned a massive audience consisting entirely of clowns.

Not wasting any time, Danny took off towards the roller coaster at full speed.

Freakshow summoned a microphone "Ladies and gentlemen, freaks of all ages, may I direct your attention to the center ring where Danny Phantom, AKA Danny Fenton, will attempt to rescue his friends and family from a ghastly doom of the construction of yours truly!" he fired a blast from the Reality Gauntlet at Danny, transforming him into immobile orange gelatin just as he reached the track, leaving him stuck there as the roller coaster closed in on him.

"What the hell did you-? Oh son of a-" he was cut off when the roller coaster slammed straight into him, splattering him all over the ground in a gooey mess, much to everyone's horror.

"Only to be stopped at every turn by the ringmaster of all of reality!"

Everyone on the roller coaster of death actually forgot about their peril for a moment when they saw Danny splatter across the ground, and they were consumed by grief.

Freakshow listened to the crowd cheering for him "What's that? You want more?" he was met with more cheering "Well if you are so insistent then I'll give you more, much more!" he held up the Reality Gauntlet and unleashed a wave of energy, turning the entire world into his own personal circus, including replacing all of the faces on Mount Rushmore with Freakshow's head, turning the Golden Gate Bridge into a roller coaster, the Capitol Building into a circus tent and the Washington Monument into a hammer game "It's all mine now! My revenge, your nightmare!" he took a moment to marvel at his world "There, a kingdom fit for a freak and a freakdom fit for a king!" he looked at Danny's gooey remains on the ground and his smirk widened "Your effort was a valiant one but in the end you never stood a chance.

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Danny slowly opened his eyes and sat up "What the…" he looked around and saw himself in a green void "Where… Where am I…?"

"You're in ghost limbo, the halfway point between Earth and the Ghost Zone."

Danny looked up and saw Leo sitting in front of him "Leo… I must look pathetic to you right now, seeing your apprentice lying on the ground like a total failure."

"You're only seeing half of the picture right now Danny, and now you're just going to give up without even fighting back?"

"...Freakshow's too strong, I can't beat him without your help. I've never been able to beat them on my own, every time I thought I won I just screwed it up and you had to come in and save the day in my place! You're the strong one Leo not me, all you've done is waste your time, effort and strength on a pathetic weakling and a failure!"

"Was I ever apart of your true strength? I was there to help you to learn how to control your powers, to focus them. I was never the true source of your strength Danny, and your ghost powers aren't either for that matter."

"It's too late, he's already taken everyone I love and I'm powerless to stop him!" by this point he had tears streaming down his face "I'm not strong enough to do it on my own, ghost powers or no ghost powers!"

"Your ghost powers were never the true source of your strength either Danny, what makes you truly strong both in body and in mind is your iron will to never give up and your unwavering determination to protect the people you care about. And even now, right now, especially now, all of those people need you to save them from Freakshow." he stood up and began walking away.

"I can't do it Leo, I'm not as strong as you!"

Leo stopped walking, turned back to face Danny, and he gave him a small smile "No Danny, you're not as strong as me. You're stronger than me, you have been for a long time. Ever since you beat your future self actually. You've used the strength of your will and determination every day of your life, long before I ever came into the picture. It didn't let you down before and it's not gonna let you down now. Go Danny Phantom, go and show that creepy albino bastard what you're made of." and he disappeared.

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The roller coaster of death kept on going, and the audience kept roaring with cheers.

Danny's eyes shot open as he began pulling himself back together ' _Come on Phantom, Leo's right. It doesn't matter if you have an inferiority complex or whatever, you have a job to do and you have people to protect. You haven't let them down before and you're sure as hell not going to start now!'_ he burst upwards.

The roller coaster finally came to the fire breathing jack in the box, but just as it unleashed a blast of fire…

" **Ice Make: Shield!"** Danny suddenly tumbled in front of them and summoned a shield of ice, dissipating the flames, leaving the others in relief over the fact that Danny was alive "I don't care if the whole world does know my secret, I am Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom and I'm not gonna let it stop me from protecting the people I love!"

"Danny listen!" Jazz called out to him at the top of her lungs "He has ghost envy, USE PSYCHOLOGY!"

' _Psychology? Ghost envy? Oh this is gonna be fun._ **Ice Devil's Zeroth Longsword!"** he summoned a sword made of ice and took off the head of the jack in the box, then turned his attention towards the gigantic stone mallets ' _They're gonna hit those things any second now and there's no way I can reach it in time.'_ he summoned a bow and arrow made of ice ' _Come on Phantom, you've only got one shot at this so you have to make it count. Here goes._ **Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow!"** he fired off the ice arrow, destroying the stone mallets with a small explosion right before the roller coaster sped through that area ' _Yes!'_

That was when the gigantic form of a clearly pissed off Freakshow appeared behind him "Oh no, you do _not_ get to leave this world with a smile."

Danny dodged an attempt to grab him along with several more attempts "Give me one good reason not to smile. I don't care if you are the most powerful human in the world, no matter what you may do or try the fact of the matter is that I'm half ghost and you're not."

"I am the ringmaster of all of reality!" Freakshow fired a blast from his Reality Gauntlet.

Danny extended and bent his body around the blast "Yeah but I bet you can't do this now can you?" this earned a number of cheers from the audience.

"What? No! He's not the star of this circus! I am! ME!"

"Ghost powers, ghost energy. Ghost to the ghost to the ghost!" Danny continued showing off his ghost powers as he fired a number of Ecto Rays, carving a smiley face into Freakshow's hat, drawing even more cheers from the crowd.

"I WILL NOT! BE UPSTAGED! BY A GHOST!" this was met with everyone in the audience beginning to throw things at Freakshow.

"Well technically I'm only half ghost but I'm still way cooler than you, and that's not the only reason why.

"ENOUGH!" having finally lost his temper, Freakshow swatted Danny to the ground with one clean strike "I may be losing control over the crowd but the fact remains that I hold control over all of reality."

Danny crawled his way over towards his Fenton Thermos ' _Just a little more…'_

"And if you think being a half ghost is so cool…" Freakshow transformed himself using the full power of the Reality Gauntlet, turning himself into a big and ugly ghost with four arms, wings and a face on its chest.

' _There it is, he just opened the window of opportunity for me.'_

"Now what do you think of me now that I'm a full ghost?"

"I think you just made this a hell of a lot easier for me." Danny whipped out the Fenton Thermos and began sucking Freakshow in.

"What?! No! NOOOOOOO!" Freakshow could only cry out desperately in an attempt to get himself free, only to fail and be sucked into the Fenton Thermos, leaving only the Reality Gauntlet behind on the ground where he once was.

Danny closed the lid on the thermos and picked up the Reality Gauntlet "And that's what happens when you mess with the people I love." not wasting any time to think about his victory, he quickly put on the Reality Gauntlet and used the Gem of Form to change the pool of acid into a regular pool.

The roller coaster of death landed in the pool with a thunderous splash, and everyone popped up above the water unharmed.

Danny quickly made his way over to them to see if they were alright "Are you guys okay? Oh hi Mr and Mrs Manson, Mr and Mrs Foley and everybody else."

A pissed off Lydia appeared in an attempt to attack Danny from behind.

"Hold on just a second." Danny quickly turned his attention to Lydia "And as for you…" he turned her into a number of different objects, including a fish, a mallet, an apple and a teddy bear before turning her back to normal.

Terrified of what Danny could do to her, Lydia took off as fast as she could.

"And now to save the day, Phantom style." Danny raised the Reality Gauntlet into the air and sent out a wave of ecto energy, undoing everything Freakshow had done, restoring the world to how it was originally, as well as turning night bad to day, before landing on the ground and returning to his human form.

"Danny!" a voice called out to him.

Danny looked back and saw Jack walking towards him, his expression unreadable ' _Here it goes, no turning back.'_

"Young man, there's something I need to say to you."

"And there's something I need to say to you first." Danny took a long deep breath and looked him in the eye "All this time I've been terrified of telling because you might reject me before you rip me apart molecule by molecule, and partly because I've been afraid of myself and what I might become. But that ends today. I'm done running away, I'm done being afraid, and I'm done lying about who I am." he flashed into his ghost form "This is who I am now, I've accepted it and I embrace it." he returned to his human form "Now whatever you have to say to me, go ahead."

"I can speak now?"

"You can speak now."

"Good." Jack suddenly caught Danny in a bone crushing hug "I'm very proud of you son, more than you could imagine."

"...Wait are you serious? I mean I lied to you for almost a year, if I were you then I'd be furious as you if someone at the last piece of fudge."

"Well of course you lied to me, it's not like I ever gave you a reason not to. All this time I've been yammering on about destroying and dissecting ghosts, I would've been scared out of my pants too if I were you but that doesn't matter now. I love you for who you are Danny, whether you're a ghost or a boy or something in between. We are family and nothing is ever going to change that."

"And I appreciate that, a lot more than you will ever know." he caught Jack in a hug and looked at the Reality Gauntlet "And a lot more than anyone else will ever remember." he used the power of the Reality Gauntlet to wipe out everyone else's memories of what happened.

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The Guys in White were hard at work when the alarm suddenly went off "What the- The computer is detecting a massive spike in ecto energy." they looked up.

Sure enough, Danny was casually floating above them with the Reality Gauntlet "That would be yours truly."

They readied their weapons.

"Not so fast guys." he turned their weapons into a chicken and a tuba "Here, call this a gift." he threw the Fenton Thermos down onto the ground and it cracked open, revealing Freakshow, who he then turned back to his human form.

They quickly cuffed him.

"Oh and from now on, you guys are gonna leave the Fentons and the Hunters alone."

"Why would we do that?"

"It's simple." he used the Gem of Fantasy to wipe their memories "He's not the ghost you're looking for."

"He's not the ghost we're looking for."

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Nightfall came and everything was finally calm again.

Danny lay on his bed, staring at the Reality Gauntlet he still wore on his arm ' _So that's it, I set almost everything back to the way it was before. The only difference is that I made it so that my dad remembers my secret, but aside from him nobody knows about me being half ghost except for those who already knew. Now I guess I'd better get to destroying this thing for good.'_ he looked and noticed something pop up on his computer "A video chat request?" he opened it up.

As it turns out, Leo was on the other end " _Hey man."_

"Hey Leo, what's up?"

" _Just checking in on the guy who saved the world from a freaky albino ringmaster. So you fixed everything that happened?"_

"Yeah, well almost everything. I erased the memories of everyone in the world who didn't know my secret identity, with the exception of my dad."

" _And you're cool with him knowing about you being half ghost and all of that?"_

"Yeah I am, the time for keeping secrets from my family and lying to the people I care about is over. Things are changing in the world so I think that maybe it's time I change with it. My dad even says he wants me to team up with him now, he says I can be his sidekick. It's kind of weird having him know now."

" _Yeah but it's like you said, the world is changing so maybe we should change too. Hey look on the bright side, now that everything else was undone you really oughta start getting ready for your Fenton family vacation."_

Danny let out a snort "Are you kidding? I just spent 4 days taking a trip across the country alone with my sister, I think I've had enough family bonding time for a good long while. Besides, I doubt I could handle anything else like that for a long time."

" _If you say so, it's your choice. Still though, you did a great job in your fight."_

"Yeah that was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Did you mean what you said to me then, about me being stronger than you?"

" _Of course I did, I mean you became stronger than me the minute you unlocked your Ghostly Wail during your fight with your evil future self a few months ago. I told you when we started training together that you had the potential to surpass me and now you're living up to it. I'm proud to call you my protegee and my friend."_

"And I'm proud to call you my mentor and my friend, I seriously can't thank you enough for helping me reach this point."

" _Hey that's what friends are for, and besides us half ghosts have to stick together right?"_

"Yeah you're right. Well I'm gonna hit the hey, good night."

" _Later."_ and he signed off.

Danny began stretching his arms "Time to get some shut eye." he looked at the Reality Gauntlet on his arm and flashed into his ghost form "But first things first, time to finish this." he leaned out the window, threw the Reality Gauntlet up into the air and fired a simple Ecto Ray, destroying it on the spot "Well that's a load off." he laid down on his bed and shut his eyes in thought "Things are changing a lot, and whether these changes are good or bad I welcome them with open arms."

 **A/N:**

 **I know it was originally supposed to be Sam and Tucker that went with Danny to retrieve the Reality Gems, but I figured this would be a good chance to give Jazz some spot light for a change.**

 **I added in that bit about the Gem of Time and Legends of the Hidden Temple because it just popped into my head once and I decided to go with it, especially since Legends of the Hidden Temple was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid, along with Danny Phantom. Also, the Missing Weather Maps of Charles Lindbergh was one of my favorite episodes and I figured that knowing about the episode beforehand would be a great asset to them.**

 **I decided to let Jack know Danny's secret even though everyone else's memories were wiped out by the Reality Gauntlet, I mean I can see why Danny erased their memories but I decided that since Maddie already knew, it was time Jack knew as well.**


	11. Phantom Planet

Deep in outer space, not far from the rings of Saturn.

One of the satellite probes launched by Vlad examined a nearby asteroid, which it had discovered to be composed of Ecto Ranium, an element that ghosts couldn't touch.

Two of his Maddie holograms planned to inform Vlad of their discovery of Ecto Ranium, only for them to begin fighting over who would get to tell him.

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A ghost portal opened in the depths of space and who else would emerge from it but Vlad, holding a very familiar map "What a glorious morning, defeating Frosbite and acquiring the all powerful Infi Map for myself. Such a great way to start the day, if this keeps up then I should be ruling over all of the galaxy by lunch."

However, a stray Ecto Ray blew off part of his helmet, courtesy of Danny in the Specter Speeder, being accompanied by Leo, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Kwan and Star " _The kitchen is closed Plasmius, now for over the map and I won't hurt you too badly!"_ he pressed the button and fired off two Ecto blasts, sending Vlad flying back.

"Danny let's move!" Leo put a helmet on his head and handed one to him.

"I gotcha!" Danny put on his own helmet and brought down a door between them and the rest of the group "Alright guys, let's rock!"

"Three, two, one, punch it!" Sam pushed the button, opening the door for them.

"Let's go!" Danny led Leo out into open space "Alright Plasmius, give me everything you've got!"

"You wretched little rat, you just won't give up interfering with my plans!" Vlad fired a volley of Ecto Rays at them.

Danny maneuvered around them with ease "I know you're a really lost guy and all Vlad but no map that you stole is going to help you find your way."

"Perhaps not but it will help me find my destiny!" Vlad fired another Ecto Ray.

" **Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow!"** Danny summoned a bow and arrow made of his ecto ice and fired the arrow, sending Vlad tumbling back through space and freezing him solid in the process.

Leo nodded in approval "Nice work Danny, I'm pretty sure that was record time." he phased through the ice and grabbed back the Infi Map.

"Maybe but you could've helped you know."

"Sure I could've but what kind of mentor would I be if I interefered in battles that you were handling just fine?"

"The kind who doesn't like to get off his butt and fight." they made their way back to the Specter Speeder "But seriously Plasmius, get some help!"

"Don't you think that was taking it a little far?"

"Probably but hey, this is me we're talking about." and they took off for a portal back to Earth.

Now foaming at the mouth with rage, Vlad broke free of his icy prison "That little- When I get my hands on-" he fired a few stray Ecto Rays in a rage, only for them to reflect off of the satellite, with one of them accidentally igniting a fuel tank, much to his horror "The fusion reactor, if the flames reach then it will explode!" he quickly phased inside the satellite and landed inside an escape ship "Taking the map that rightfully belongs to me, destroying my multi million dollar satellite, mocking my loneliness in life?! That little brat has finally crossed the line, I think the time has come for me to finally finished off that nuiscane known as Danny Phantom once and for all!" he departed from the satellite and raced back to Earth right before the sattelite was destroyed in the ensuing explosion.

However, what nobody realized was that the explosion moved the Ecto-Ranium asteroid, setting it on a collision course with Earth.

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Soon enough, Team Phantom had arrived back in Amity Park, and more importantly back on good old planet Earth.

Danny just looked around at the streets of Amity Park with a smile on his face ' _It feels good to be back.'_

Sam let out a sigh "Home sweet home, nothing like good old solid terra firma. This feels so much better."

"You know I've gotta be honest Sam, I thought you'd like being in space with all that infinite darkness everywhere."

"Yeah well I like my darkness with a little more oxygen and a lot less asteroids."

"Fair enough."

"Still I'm just glad we could help Frostbite out after everything he's done to help us, what with teaching you to use your ice powers and all." Leo held up the Infi-Map "I bet he'll be glad to get back this bad boy, but all the same we'd better hurry up and get this thing back to him the first chance we get."

"Oh trust me Leo we will, but right now I'm with Sam."

"And the rest of us-"

"I know what I said, but either way it's good to be back to where things are normal."

That was when Jack and Maddie showed up in the Fenton RV " _Attention Amity Park, the Fentons are on patrol! Rest assured, the streets are safe!"_

"But not for long."

Sure enough, they crashed into a fire hydrant less than 10 seconds later " _The city's water supply is a okay!"_

"Yep, this is normal."

"I'm not so sure that's a good thing." Leo pointed out dryly.

"Well I am."

"You're coming off as surprisingly optimistic today."

"Well give me a good reason not to, everything is coming up me. I mean Valerie isn't hunting me anymore, my dad knows my secret and he accepted me for who I am, I saved the world from a freak albino clown and I think it's safe to say I've been acing your training lately. Things are finally coming up Phantom. Plus…" he looked up into the sky, his expression thoughtful "It's been a full year, I first got my ghost powers today one year ago. I can't believe how much my life has changed since then."

"Yeah I get you, what with becoming half ghost and getting a kick ass mentor and all the crap you've been through since then like defeating the Ghost King, beating your evil future self and beating an evil albino ringmaster wielding a gauntlet with power over reality itself. You've come a long way in the past 11 months." this was followed by their ghost senses going off.

"And it looks like the time comes once again."

"You want me to give you a hand?"

"No thanks, I think I'm okay with doing this one on my own." he looked to the right to see what the commotion was.

Technus burst out of a nearby electronics store with lots of stolen tech "This is the life, nothing like a lazy day of shipping, lattes and terrorizing minimum wage workers."

"Yep, nothing like this. I'm going ghost!" Danny ducked into an alley, flashed into his ghost form, and flew back out.

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Technus browsed through the DVD section "Well look on the bright side, at least I'm not downloading them illegally."

"Next register cyber hole! **Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fist!"** Danny burst onto the scene, summoned a pair of ice gauntlets, and promptly slammed him through the wall and the one of the next building over.

"You little- Fine, if that's the way you want to play it!" Technus fired an Ecto Ray at a nearby car, fusing it with the tech he stole transforming it into a gigantic car monster "Feast your eyes on this ghost twerp jr, the perfect combination of technology of the past and the present! I call it the car-puter! It will drive you to your doom!"

"Lame!" Danny charged at the car-puter and summoned a shield made of ice to block the car engine being fired at it, the force sending both of them skidding back "Well that's just great, I've already been in my first car accident and I'm not even driving yet." he looked and noticed the car-puter speeding towards Sam and Leo "Dammit! Leo hurry, you've gotta stop it!"

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"Sam get behind me, I'll deal with this thing myself." Leo stepped in front of Sam and got into a stance "It's Phantom time-" he paused when the car-puter stopped in front of them "Okay what the actual f*ck?"

As iti turns out, it was three teans known as Thrash, Vid and Download "Yo I got it Vid!"

"Way to go Thrash, Download do your thing on its ass!"

"On it babe!" so he _downloaded_ the car-puter into a device on his wrist "Download, sheeyeah to the max!"

"...Okay what's with the hippee gangster ghost busting power rangers?" asked Leo "I mean seriously those are the worst jumpsuits I've ever seen."

"At least we can pull him off." Danny landed on the ground "At least we pull it off and make it work, black is super slimming."

"Except for when it comes to your dad."

"Low blow man, low blow."

"Maybe but it's not inaccurate and you know it."

"Adolescents?!" Technus rounded on the Power Ranger rejects "How dare you! And another thing, the high tech look is MY bit!"

"Yeah whatever!" Vid fired some ecto infused DVDs at him, electrocuting him before he was able to react.

This allowed Download to download him into the device on his wrist "The ghost guy is gone, the area is safe. Have a righteous day."

"Masters' Blasters stop disasters!" this was followed by the three of them doing a pose and being met with cheers from the witnesses.

"Oh god it's one of those days isn't it?"

Then a holographic visual screen appeared from the device worn by one of the so called Masters Blasters, revealing none other than Vlad himself " _Greetings citizens of Amity Park, I do hope you were able to enjoy this presentation of your city's newest ghost fighting team which I have dubbed as the Masters Blasters."_

"Yeah it's official, it's one of those days."

" _Being the humble good natured billionaire that I am, I've provided a small portion of my own personal funding for this top notch troop equipped with the latest teen technology, with which they are meant to stop ghosts in their tracks and succeed where Danny Phantom has oh so obviously failed."_

"...Yeah okay, it's clearly another attempt to screw you over as payback for destroying is ridiculously ugly sattelite."

" _As you can see my plan is actually quite a simple one, that being out with the old and in with the new. And the old really should give up now if he knows what's good for him."_ the message shut off and the Masters' Blasters departed.

"Good I can feel the migranes coming on."

"Vlad is the one funding them after all." Danny pointed out "That means that they're definitely up to something, you got any ideas?"

"Nope, I'm stumped on this one. Sam you wanna pitch in?"

Sam thought for a moment and smirked "A ghost fighting team can't fight ghosts is there are no ghosts to fight right?"

"We're listening."

"So Danny here just has to fight ghosts like crazy, remind everyone in this town how there isn't a single ghost fighter better than Amity Park's own Danny Phantom."

"You know Sam, you're right." Danny told her "I think it's about time I show the Masters' Blasters who the boss is around here. Buckle up guys and make sure Tucker and the others are ready to do the same, Operation: Danny Phantom Rocks is about to begin."

"Complete with merchandise?" asked Leo.

"We'll call that the backup plan."

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A full week and went before anybody even knew what was happening, and now the majority of Team Phantom, mainly Danny, Leo, Sam and Tucker sat by the sidewalk during a parade for the Masters' Blaster.

Leo looked at multiple copies of the newspaper in his hands "Wow, according to the Amity Park Times you lost out to the Masters' Blasters on catching Undergrowth, a dragon ghost and that evil weather ghost Clockwork keeps telling me about."

"Shut up." Danny grumbled without looking up.

"And three news photos of you in your underwear, according to Tucker you just need 9 more and you can get your own calender."

"I'm serious Leo."

"So am I, decent calenders are hard to come by these days."

"That's not the point! As far as these people are concerned the so called Masters' Blasters have totally replaced Danny Phantom!"

"Not all of them, looks like a good number of representatives of the Danny Phantom preservation society are here." Tucker pointed to where various people with Danny Phantom merchandise, only to dump it for Masters' Blaster merchandise instead "Scratch that."

Leo let out a snort "Yeah this is gonna blow up in everyone's faces in the next few days or so, I can jsut taste the irony. Masters' Blasters stop disasters, more like they create a bigger disaster once the actual good guy is out of the way."

"Yeah sure…" Danny just picked up a doll of Phantom and let out a sigh.

"Oh come on Danny, cheer up." Sam told him "All you have to do is make the people see you for the hero we know you are. The hero that I know you are."

Tucker nodded "Sam's right, you can do it dude. And you might wanna try a cool slogan while you're at it. Danny Phantom stops… I give up, what rhymes with Phantom?"

"Idiots trying to come up with slogans on the fly?" Leo offered.

"...Shut up." this was followed by people screaming.

"Hold that thought." Danny stood and was about to take off.

That is, before Leo grabbed him by the back of the collar "Forget it numbnuts, it's just a ridiculously tacky balloon."

And then Vlad sbhowed up "That is true ladies and gentlemen, as you can see Amity Park is clearly in much cooler and safer hands thanks to the Masters' Blasters."

"Yeah go shove it up your hole." Danny snarled and stormed off, with Tucker and Sam right behind him.

Leo stared a Vlad for a moment ' _That look in his eyes, it's been getting darker and more malicious every day.'_

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A few hours passed, and the team regrouped in the lab at Fenton Works.

"Oh come on, clearly Vladdie means well." Jack pulled down his welding mask and turned to the portal "I mean it's Vladdie, he doesn't have an evil bone in his body."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night." Leo just wrapped an arm around Danny in an attemp to comfort him.

"Well think about it. Vladdie's team has style, guts, acne, and they're humans." he received a number of glares "Sorry, old habits die hard I guess. Plus there's the fact that they went and gave me this zippity keen o poster."

Leo checked out the autograph on the top corner of the poster "To the old guy in the orange suit, stop bothering us."

"Isn't it awesome?"

"...And again I say, whatever lets you sleep at night." he turned to Jazz "Any particular reason your parents are tearing down a perfectly good ghost portal?"

"It was my dad's idea." Jazz told him "He's breaking it down to stage one so that he can update the software manually, he says that way Danny will be able to catch ghosts a lot more efficiently and download songs a lot faster."

"Yeah, super efficient." Danny grumbled, looking just as downcast as ever.

Sam sat down next to him and observed the portal "You know it kind of looks the same way it did when you first got your ghost powers Danny."

"Oh for the love of- Sam please, my ghost powers are the last thing I wanna think about right now. Seriously first I ace my greatest enemy and it makes me feel like I'm on top of the world, and then reality kicks in and bites me in the butt just like always. I mean now I'm starting to think that maybe everyone else would be better off if I didn't have them."

"Okay I've heard enough of that." Maddie knelt down in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder "Danny don't say something like that, your powers are a part of who you are and whoever or whatever problems you face we'll face them with you by your side."

"Yeah yeah…" he just looked down at the ground.

' _Danny…'_

Jack pulled up his welding mask "Okay I think that's enough of that for now. Come on Maddie, I'll let you rub my feet. And be sure to remember, I've got some BAD bunions." and he walked off.

"...It's times like this I'm grateful I always wear gloves."

Leo let out a snort "Trust me Mrs Fenton, no amount of gloves are gonna be enough to save you from that."

"Believe me, I know." and she left.

Danny stood up and observed the portal for a moment "This thing was what gave me my powers to begin with, I wonder if it would be able to…"

"Danny don't even think about it." Sam told him.

"Oh come on Sam, give me one good reason why I should keep my powers now that I'm getting so much grief because of them."

"You're the target of hundreds of evil ghosts!" Tucker blurted out, receiving a number of angry looks as a result "Oh wait, that's a bad one. You know what, I'm gonna go ahead and go back to rhyming Phantom."

"Yeah you do that."

"Come on Danny, think of all the good you've done!" Sam protested "Think of all of the good you still are doing. If you took your powers away now…"

Danny let out a sigh "I guess but with don't tell me you haven't noticed it too Sam, the longer I have my powers the more enemies I have to fight and the more danger you guys will be in as a result. Maybe the best way to protect all of you is to not fight at all." he heard the doorbell ring from upstairs.

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Jack opened the door and found the Masters' Blasters standing there, much to his joy "Hey there Masters' Blasters, you remember me don't you? The old guy in the orange suit? You know I think-"

"Save it!" they caught him in a net "Jack Fenton according to our readings there is an ecto-plasmic entity on the premises, in accordance to the federal anti ecto control act you're officially under arrest for harboring a ghost." they dragged him away despite his protesting and pleading for another autograph.

Danny watched with the others from the kitchen and finally lost it "Alright that's it, enough is enough! I'm going ghost!" he flashed into his ghost form "And that's the last time you're gonna hear that coming from me." he phased through the floor.

"Son of a bitch, Danny hold on!" Leo phased himself, Sam, Tucker, Jazz and Maddie through the floor after him.

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Danny phased his way down into the lab and quickly turned on the partially dismantled ghost portal "I can't fight ghosts anymore, everyone in this town basically threw me out like I was yesterday's garbage, and now my dad gets arrested because of me? Well I say that enough is enough."

Leo phased through the roof down to the lab with Sam and the others "Alright Danny give it a rest, this is just a rushed idea you're having in the heat of the moment that you're gonna come to regret."

"I can assure you Leo, this is one thing I'm not gonna regret and if there's one thing I learned from all of my training with you over the past year it's about making major sacrifices if it means to protect the people I care about."

"But Danny you're a hero, we can talk about this." Sam protested.

"There's nothing to talk about Sam."

"Dude don't do it, we'll find something that rhymes with Phantom!" Tucker pleaded.

"...Tucker you're supposed to be the smart one and even I know there's nothing that rhymes with Phantom."

"Danny this isn't the way, you don't have to do this." Maddie told him, with Jazz nodding in agreement.

"Mom, Jazz… I'm sorry but if Vlad is willing to go this far to get me off his back then I don't have a choice. My decision is final." he pressed the button and turned on the portal, causing him to scream in pain as the ectoplasm was stripped from his DNA structure, before he was forced back into his human form and he stumbled his way out of the portal, now with a single white stripe through his hair.

"Danny!" Maddie and Jazz both rushed over to his side, failing to notice the portal beginning to spark wildly.

"Get down!" Leo forced them to the ground and put up an ecto shield right before the portal broke down all the way, and he let the shield down once the portal settled down "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine." Sam turned back to Danny's unconscious form "Danny can you hear me? How do you feel?"

Slowly, Danny gripped Sam's hand with his and opened his eyes "It's strange but… I feel… human…" and he lost consciousness again.

"Danny come on, stay with me." she propped him up against the wall.

"Did he just do what I think he just did?" asked Tucker.

"You mean step back into a partially torn down ghost portal, eradicate any trace of his ghost powers aside from that kickass white stripe through his hair and revert his DNA structure back to that of a normal 15 year old?" Leo summarized.

"I was gonna say he made himself go unghost but that works too I guess."

"Well that's not actually accurate, going unghost is what half ghosts do when they return to their human forms."

That was when the Masters' Blasters showed up "Hey there dudes, we're here to like police the premises for signs of any spectral activity. Just go ahead and go about your business like we're not even here." they started scanning around the lab, but when they came to Danny they didn't find anything "Alright the place is clean, no ectos." they started to leave but one of them stopped and signed Tucker's hat "There ya go dude, and keep in mind that Vlad Masters is always watching you and loves you and all of the people." and then they left.

Not long after they left, Danny regained consciousness and sat up "What… What happened? Did it work?" he felt around different parts of his body "Well everything's there." he looked in the mirror, at the new white streak through his hair "Well that wasn't there before so I know it did something."

"You didn't register on the Blasters' scanner." Maddie told him.

"So then that means… I'm going ghost!" nothing happened "I said I'm going ghost!" still nothing happened "Yes it worked, I don't have my ghost powers anymore! I'm finally normal again, isn't that awesome?"

They were less than amused "Yeah that's just great, the thrill of a lifetime."

"Oh come on you guys lighten up, don't you realize what this means?"

"Oh yeah." Sam's tone was filled with sarcasm and disappointment "It means that you're just some average everyday and totally unspecial human again."

"Oh come on Sam, you're being way too negative. Think of how great this is gonna be, I won't have to fight ghosts anymore and now we can all just be normal teenagers and hang out like the old days as much as we want."

"Yeah sure." and she left.

"Tucker you get it don't you?"

Tucker just shrugged, his tone hollow "Hey man if this is what you want then I'm happy for you."

"Yeah it is, thanks."

"Looks like we'll have to find things to occupy our time won't we?"

"Looks like it."

"There's this new Masters' Blasters video game we can play, it's really cool and you get to hunt ghosts. See ya." and he left.

"For crying out loud guys what is your deal?"

"I really can't believe you did that." Jazz muttered "It feels like I lost a good friend, someone I was just starting to get to know."

"Why the hell am I the only one who's happy about this? Nobody needs Danny Phantom around here anymore, so from now on Danny Fenton is a nice normal kid from a nice normal… well, _semi_ normal family. Come on Leo, back me up here." he recieved no reply and turned around to find Leo already gone "Where did-"

"He left after you woke up."

"Oh. Well come on, let's go bail dad out of jail before he ends up getting on the wrong side of the wrong guy." and he left.

' _Danny…'_

Maddie placed a hand on her shoulder "Forget it Jazz, just let him go. This is something Danny has to figure out on his own. I know your brother and I know that despite this he'll make the right decision in the end."

Jazz spared a glance back at the destroyed portal "I hope so mom, I really do."

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It wasn't long before everything was sorted out with Jack, and by sorted out I mean Vlad quickly overshadowed the mayor and ordered Jack's release since Danny no longer had his ghost powers and was no longer a threat to him.

Jack now stood with Danny, Jazz and Maddie outside the Fenton RV "Thanks for getting me out of jail kids, Maddie. I knew there must have been some sort of mistake. I was never worried though, I was this close to tunneling myself out of there with my trusty ice cream spoon. But then they served ice cream so, well you can imagine the rest."

"Oh believe me, we can." Danny told him dryly.

"By the way son I like what you did with your hair, it kind of reminds me of a band I used to be in with Vladdie back in the 80's called the Skunk Punks." he held up an old newspaper.

"The Skunk Punks stink? You walked right into that one didn't you?"

"You have no idea, and it didn't help that Vlad suggested that I scream it out on the stage during every single concert we had."

"...Now that I believe." Danny looked up and saw the Masters' Blasters struggling to fight off a ghost, only to be blown away with ease ' _Please, like they really need me to deal with something like that.'_

" **Wind Scar!"** Leo burst onto the scene in his ghost form, drew his Spirit Sword, and hit the ghost with a powerful blast of wind, shredding it and blowing it to pieces before he trapped it in his very own Hunter thermos, then looked down and locked eyes with Danny for a moment, before he scowled and just flew off into the distance, with the Masters' Blasters chasing after him at full speed.

' _Leo…'_

"Danny sweetie, are you coming?" asked Maddie.

"...You know what you guys go on ahead, I was just gonna go take a walk and clear my head a little. Plus it's such a nice day out, these kinds of things have to be appreciated when they can be."

"Well alright Danny, just be sure to be careful." and they drove off, leavind Danny standing alone in the streets.

"Oh trust me, I plan to be careful for a very long time." he paused and looked around "They're gone Leo."

Sure enough, Leo rose up through the streets "How did you know I was there?"

"Just because I can't sense ghosts anymore doesn't mean I can't read you like the back of my hand." note how increasingly smug he sounded as he said this.

"Yeah that's super kickass and stuff." note the sarcasm in his voice, which softened in a way that made him sound almost disappointed "So that's it, one little thing like that and you just up and give it up for good?"

"Oh come on, you too? I thought at least you of all people would understand."

"Don't go and misinterpret what I'm saying Danny, I understand what you're feeling a hell of a lot better than even you do. But there's a difference between understanding and agreeing and just because I understand doesn't mean I agree."

Danny said nothing.

"Do you think that just because you went and quit the ghosts are going to stop coming? There will always be someone who has to do it, and your friends and family, the people you trained so long and so hard to protect, will go out and fight in your place. They're gonna keep on facing the same risks and some of them might not come out of that fight alive, some of them that you may have been able to save if you had been there to lead them, to fight for them, to protect them to your last breath. What are you going to be thinking then? You've had an entire year with your ghost powers to make those kinds of mistakes, to reflect on them and to learn from them, and grow stronger both in body and in mind as a result. You could've used your failures to make yourself a better leader. You won't be able to help your friends and family or be able to protect them by running away from this like a coward, you should have been trying to get even stronger for their sake so that you'll be able to do better next time and there won't be any need for people like the Masters' Blasters. You have a simple choice to make Danny, you're either the hero or you're a coward. That's a choice only you can make." and with that, he blasted off into the skies of Amity Park.

' _Great, another person trying to tell me how to live my life and contradict my choices. Well forget it, sorry Leo but even you can't change my mind on this one. From now on Danny Phantom no longer exists and he will not be missed.'_ and he walked off, fully intent on embracing his new life.

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Leo laid down on his bed and sighed as he stared at a picture of him and Danny, both in their ghost forms ' _And here I thought he truly understood…'_ he heard a knock on his door "I'm not in the mood to listen to your lady problems right now Raph."

"I'll be sure to tell him that." a voice told him, but it was clearly female.

Leo looked up to see a head of long blonde hair make her way in "Oh hey Star, I keep forgetting that I gave you a key after that whole thing with Undergrowth. I thought it was my brother."

"No he's down in the lab with Valerie working on whatever this secret project of his is. You look like you've seen better days though."

"Don't remind me. Danny and I had a fight."

"I'm gonna go ahead and guess this is about him giving up his ghost powers?" she received an odd look "I heard from Danny's sister."

Leo let out a sigh "I thought Danny really understood that his ghost powers were a rare gift that gave him a chance to change things, a chance that nobody aside from me and Vlad. I was thrilled to be teaching him how to use it, but now it's like he's okay with just being one of the crowd again."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Everything, I mean getting to fight ghosts after school while most of the others fight acne or the loser jocks like Dash and it's like he doesn't even care about what he gave up. When he had his powers I knew that this town was protected from guys like Walker or Technus or whatever, but now god only knows what kind of disaster we're heading towards."

"Well even if Danny isn't the hero anymore then why can't you be in his place?"

"Because I never wanted to be, why else would I spend so long training Danny? Look Star I never told anyone this except my brother, but the truth is that my parents getting killed in that car accident 2 years ago… it really shook me up. I tried to do what I could back in California and be the hero as much as I could but the memories and the guilt and thoughts that I might have been able to save them was eating me alive. The real reason my brother moved us here in the first place was because _I_ was the one who needed the fresh start."

Star said nothing and just wrapped a comforting arm around him "And now you feel like the fact that Danny just gave it up feels like you failed as a teacher."

"Kind of yeah."

"Look this is Danny we're talking about, he'll come around. I mean there's gotta be a way for you to get his powers back right?"

"Well yeah I came up with that theory like a year and a half ago after an icident with my brother's ghost catcher. I blew it up not long after since I didn't want to repeat that incident ever again." he leaned back on his bed "I'll tell him about it when he grows the balls to ask me to help him get his powers back, but until then he's got a little bit more of growing up to do. This kind of thing is something that even I can't teach him."

"So he's finished learning from you then?"

"I guess so." he sat back up and caught Star in a hug "Thanks, this kind of talk was just what I needed."

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" _And it's been another busy day for the Masters' Blasters, sponsored by Vlad Masters, who have now begun charging a small fee in order to cover their growing expenses."_

Vlad let out a sigh but didn't try to hide his smirk " _Yes quality ghost fighting is getting very expensive these days. Time, equipment, storage, all of it adds up and since the cowardly so called hero Danny Phantom has disappeared, not that he ever was helpful, there's no one else in town to assist us. Oh there are certainly a few crackpots out there who think they have what it takes like that new ghost that's shown himself recently but people like him only get in our way. It seems that when it comes to fighting ghosts we're the only game in town. And as a certain someone knows, I do so love games. I mean, do be sure to have a nice day."_

Danny let out a content sigh as he sat around with Tucker, Sam and Kwan "This is the life, just sitting around and not fighting ghosts with my totally ordinary pals. Hey Sam you think you could pass me a corn dog?"

"Oh you want it? Here!" Sam shoved it into his mouth and stormed out of the room, with a seriously bewildered Danny right behind her, the corndog still in his mouth.

Kwan held out a fist to Tucker "They're gonna make out before this whole thing is over."

"Oh there's no doubt about that." Tucker caught him in a fist bump.

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Danny followed Sam outside "Sam hold up, it's not like you have any reason to get mad. The corn dogs are made of tofu."

Sam just rolled her eyes and shot him a glare "I'm not mad about the corn dogs, what I'm mad about is you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're not you anymore, you're just a normal kid and you're a selfish one at that."

"How the hell am I selfish? Becuase I don't want the people I care about the most to be in danger?"

"You still don't get it do you Danny? Your ghost powers gave you a chance to change things, a chance that almost nobody else had and I was thrilled to be able to help you the way I did along with Tucker and the others, but now you're just one of the crowd again." she sat down on the front steps.

Danny sat down next to her "What's wrong with that?"

"Everything! Danny you got to fight ghosts after school while the other kids only had to fight acne, and the worst part about it is that it doesn't seem like you even care about what you gave up!"

"I do care Sam, it's just… I care about you and the others a lot more so if giving it up meant I could protect all of you then the way I see it it's worth it. I mean surely you understand that don't you?"

"...Danny when you had your ghost powers I knew that this town and all the people in it were protected from evil, but now I don't know where we're headed and frankly I'm not so sure I really want to know. Look I'll always be your friend Danny and I'll always be there for you but I doubt I can live my life just sitting on the sidelines, and I have to say that I'm surprised you think you can." and she walked back inside.

Danny just bit into his corn dog and spat it out "Oh gross, tofu."

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The next day of school came.

Danny found a poster of the Masters' Blasters taped over his locker "Son of a-" he ripped it off in a rage, only to feel a rumbling and shaking "What the-?"

Then the meat monster burst through the wall, mad as hell " **How dare they serve veggie burgers today! And how dare you students eat them!"** she started throwing them, sending the students running away screaming, managing to corner Dash in the process, allowing her to grab him and prepare to devour him.

"Okay that's it, no more sitting on the sidelines. Danny Phantom is coming out of retirement! I got you Dash, just hang on-"

"Get back!" Leo burst onto the scene, already in his ghost form, and faster than almost everyone could see, he whipped out his Spirit Sword, slashed the meat monster to pieces, and incinerated it with a blast of lightning "I never was one for raw meat." he descended to the ground as he put the sword back in its sheath, with everyone cheering for him.

Dash got back on his feet "Oh man you're one of the coolest ghost fighters I've ever seen, are you a friend of Danny Phantom?"

"...I used to be." he locked eyes with Danny for a brief second "He and I had a falling out not too long ago." and he phased through the floor without another word.

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The lab back in the Fenton Works was devoid of any noise or presence, it was completely quiet and alone.

Danny stood in front of what was left of the Fenton portal and tried to turn it on, only to receive a few sparks "Still worth a shot I guess…" he slowly stepped inside "I'm going ghost!" nothing happened, and so he just sat down on the edge of the portal ' _What was I thinking?'_

"You're regretting it aren't you?"

Danny looked up and saw Kwan make his way down into the lab "Kwan…"

"Giving up your ghost powers I mean." Kwan sat down next to him "You regret it don't you, not being able to help people like you always have over the past year because now you've gotten used to it. You loved being able to help people and to protect the people you cared about, it became a part of your life that you couldn't live without before you even realized.

"...She was right. Sam was right, my sister was right, Leo was right, all of them were right. All I did was take a bad situation and make it worse, which is exactly what Vlad wanted me to do. I thought I could live without my powers but it's just like you said, they became a part of me and my life before I had even realized it. I thought that by getting rid of my powers I was protecting all of you from any ghosts that would come after me, so that you guys wouldn't be in anymore danger. But maybe Sam was right, maybe I was just being selfish."

"Don't look that down on yourself man, whether you're a ghost or not there's all sorts of other ways your friends or your family could be hurt and other ways we could be in danger from something other than ghosts. I mean sure we were safer when you and Leo were protecting the town from ghosts like that Ghost King, hell even Leo couldn't beat him and he was way stronger than you back then, but remember that now matter how much you might train and no matter how much stronger you might become there's goint to be times when you can't save everyone and we're prepared to face any danger that comes our way. No matter what you'll always have your friends and family by your side." he pulled Danny to his feet "It's not healthy to just mope about it."

Danny let out a sigh "I just hope Leo found a way to get me my powers back, if he even wants me to get them back that is."

"This is Leo we're talking about, of course he will if he hasn't already."

"Guys." Jazz rushed down into the lab "You'd better come upstairs, there's somehing you've gotta see."

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Danny rushed up the stairs into the living room, with Jazz and Kwan right behind him "What's going on?"

"We found this on the news." Maddie turned on the TV "It's bad Danny, really bad."

"How bad is really bad?"

" _We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news from the universal observatory."_

" _Early today our stellar readings indicated that a massive asteroid is hurtling its way across the solar system where its trajectory will send it crashing directly into the earth. If immediate action is not taken then our entire planet will be completely destroyed upon impact, we estimate we have one week before that impact arrives. The fate of the entire human race is at stake. One week, use it wisely."_

"...Oh, so it's that bad." Danny slapped his face "And once again fate is slapping me across the face for my life choices."

"Save the snarky witt for later." Jazz told him "I've been talking with Raph on the phone and apparently he has some kind of secret project that might be able to stop it."

"I really hope he's right about this Jazz, because even if I did have my ghost powers I'd be pretty much useless against something like that."

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" _As news of the approaching asteroid, which has now been nicknamed the Disasteroid by the majority of the public, already circling all around the globe, a number of different countries are combining their greatest advancements in technology to stop the oncoming threat. However, as unfortunate as it may be, it appears that our best may not be good enough. Oh and that reminds me, speaking of not good enough let's go live to the Fentonworks."_

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As it turns out, Lance Thunder was currently reporting on the latest attempt at destroying the Disasteroid before it could destroy the Earth "Thanks Shelly, at the moment I happen to be here ringside where a privately funded mission to stop the Disasteroid in its tracks is currently underway."

"I can't believe I'm just sitting here at a computer console like an idiot when I should be out there stopping this." Danny grumbled.

"Yeah well I'm not out there either so quit whining." Leo hissed at him without looking up from his own computer console "I'm not any happier about it than you."

"And that's not even the worst part." Danny shot a glare at where Vlad was just standing smugly in the corner "What makes me want too vomit is that we have to to this whole thing with him of all people."

"Well guess what genius, we never would've been able to get this mission up and running in time to stop this thing if it wasn't if he hadn't paid to finish my brother's secret weapon so as I said before, quit whining at least until the world isn't about to be destroyed."

"Fine, I'll do it but don't think I like it."

Lance Thunder made his way over to the two of them "What is the status of this mission gentlemen?"

"Oh well my father Jack Fenton and Leo here's older brother Raphael Hunter are both currently co-piloting Raphael's new-"

"Correction, my new." Vlad cut him off.

"Whose name is on it." Leo pointed out dryly "Anyway they're up there in my brother's new Hunter Rocket with the Masters' Blasters in a last ditch effort to take out the Disasteroid. Oh and this needs to be said, that is a really stupid name."

"It looks like both of them are very serious about this mission." Lance noted.

" _You'd better believe I am."_ Jack held up some astronaut food to the camera " _You would be deadly serious too if you had to eat this freaky astronaut food, I mean freeze dried yam smelt surprise? What the heck is that?!"_

"...Yes, anyway with me now is Wisconsin billionaire Vlad Masters. It's come to my understanding that you've sent in your own team of experts?"

Vlad nodded "Oh yes that is the case, seeing as the world is in jeopardy of destruction I felt that the presence of the Masters' Blasters was absolutely critical to the success of this mission. Plus think of how well their action figures will sell after this."

"Enough with the self promition." Leo cut him off dryly "Raphael give me the deatils, what's the mission status?"

" _We're about to unleash the seismic drill charges, readying them now. Alright Mr Fenton, fire them!"_

" _I'm on it!"_ Jack fired the seismic drill charges that drilled right through the asteroid ahead of them.

"Detonation commencing in three, two, one!" Danny and Leo both counted down, followed by a massive explosion that destroyed the asteroid and blew it to bits "YES!" they high fived while everyone else, minus Vlad, cheered.

" _Yes! There isn't a rock anywhere in this entire universe that can outsmart Jack Fenton-"_ he then looked ahead and saw the _real_ Disasteroid fly right past them without so much as a scratch.

" _That's the actual Disasteroid!"_ the Masters' Blasters rounded on Jack in a rage " _You had us blow up the wrong one you fat old dumbass!"_

" _What? But there's no way I could've, Vladdie punched in the coordinates for the asteroid for me."_ he found them rounding on him " _Uh… yam smelt surprise, you know whatever the heck that is?"_

" _Yeah hold that thought."_ Raphael stepped to the side while Jack had the crap beaten out of him by the Masters' Blasters.

"You see, that's why you don't let teenagers to the work of pros." Leo pointed out dryly, with a certain Danny nodding in agreement.

"That… That was our last chance." a distraught Maddie took Jazz and slowly made their way upstairs, with Lance Thunder and the camera crew following right behind, leaving only our three half ghosts, well two half ghosts and one former half ghost, remaining down in the lab.

"Well that could've gone better."

Vlad shot the two of them a condescending smirk "Oh deary me, it looks like I set the wrong coordinates by mistake. Oh how clumsy of me, but then again you know how bad I can be with computers."

"And with women." he received a scowl but was promptly ignored otherwise.

"It would appear that your father has failed once again Daniel, and at a time when the world needs a hero more than any other."

"Yeah well at least he tried!" Danny snarled at him "That's more than what can be said for you in this situation Vlad, I mean name one thing you've done except sent others to do your dirty work for you?"

"And prey tell, where are you at the moment of truth Danny Phantom? It would appear that my little plan to shame you into hiding was even more effective than I could ever have begun to hope for." he easily dodged an attempted punch, only to be hit by the next one.

As it turns out, Leo had fired that one "Lay off my protegee old man, now both of you shut up at look at the news."

" _I'm just getting word that scientists are now aware that the famed Disasteroid had originated from the rings of Saturn approximately 2 weeks ago."_

"I'm gonna let you connect those dots."

Danny was quick to realize what Leo was talking about "Your satellite exploded during that fight near Saturn, that must be what moved the asteroid!" he rounded on Vlad "That means you're the one who caused this whole mess!"

Vlad just smirked and flashed into his ghost form and grabbed Danny by the shirt "Defeating you for good was just the first act of my little show, making your father look like a fool in front of the entire world was act two. Get ready for the climax!" he prepared to throw Danny into what was left of the Fenton portal.

That is, before Leo grabbed him by the arm and flashed into his ghost form "And by climax you mean where we stop you in your tracks, face it Vlad there's no scenario in a situation like this where you come out on top."

"I think we'll see about that soon enough." he dropped Danny on the ground and phased through the ceiling.

"You bet your ass we will." he helped Danny to his feet "You okay man?"

Danny sighed "Yeah, I've been better though. Leo we can't let him do this, but we can't kill him either. It's not Vlad's fault he's doing these things, his ghost half is controlling him like some kind of split personality-"

"Like Mal does to Mike in Total Drama All Stars, yeah I know."

"...What?"

"Dude I saw everything about your conversation with your future self, keep in mind I was watching everything with Clockwork."

"So you've got some kind of solution on how to save him?"

"No I couldn't, my brother is the one who comes up with stuff like that and I couldn't tell him without risking Vlad finding out that I know. But then again, I am ridiculously skilled at improvising so…" he pressed a button, revealing a ghost catcher "What do you say we just split them up using your dad's Fenton Ghost Catcher?"

"Nice, but when are we gonna do it and how are we gonna sneak up on him?"

"I was spying on him a few hours ago, he called a press conference for tomorrow since he planned to screw up this attempt right from the get go. We'll do it right before he makes his big announcement."

"Agreed, tomorrow then."

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The next day came, and everyone, from citizens of Amity Park to a severely beat up Jack, to representatives to a number of different countries, had gathered outside of city hall to hear what Vlad had to say to them.

"Tell me again, why are we here?" asked Sam.

"Becuase we have to see what it is that Vlad's up to." Jazz pointed out "I haven't seen any traces of Danny or Leo since the mission yesterday and Vlad says he has news that will impact the entire world."

Sure enough, Vlad stepped out onto the pedestal in front of the crowd, with the Masters' Blasters and the mayor standing right behind him "Citizens of Amity Park, of the many countries and of the world, I have news that will impact the entire world!"

"Told you."

"Though every attempt to destroy the Disasteroid we have made has failed thus far I come to you today to offer an alternative solution, one I think you will find most surprising." he prepared to leap over the podium, when…

"NOW!" Leo and Danny both jumped down from the roof, Fenton Ghost Catcher in hand, and forced Vlad through it, leaving two Vlad's in his place, one being his ghost half and the other being his human half, who now lay unconscious on top of the podium "Got him!"

The ghost half, who will now simply be referred to as Plasmius, scowled at them "I suppose you think you were thwarting my plans by ridding me of that worthless human half? Please, if anything you two peons did me a favor." he floated up above the shocked crowd "Behold citizens of the world, this is my true form!"

"I did not see that coming." Jack muttered, with Maddie just patting him on the shoulder.

Plasmius was quick to duplicate himself and take out each of the Masters' Blasters with one shot each and then looked down to face the crowd and the camers "Yes I imagined you would be surprised, though I used that pathetic human half to walk among you ever since my birth I believe it to be rather obvious that I am a far superior creature."

"Tell us, who are you?" asked one of the reporters.

"Though you of the world have come to know me as Vlad Masters, highly respected billionaire from Wisconsin, I would prefer it if you were to call me by my chosen and slightly more evil and much more fitting name: Vlad Plasmius."

"Vlad… he was overshadowed by a ghost?" Jack and Maddie looked on in disbelief, and turned to see Danny, Leo, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Kwan and Star not at all looking shocked ' _Did they all know?'_

"The reason I have chosen this moment to revealy myself to all of you is because I have a proposition to make, the nations of the world must make a unanimous agreement to pay mr $500 billion dollars and make me absolute ruler over the world. In exchange I shall make use of my ghost powers…"

"To destroy the Disasteroid?" asked one of the reporters.

"Nothing of the sort, I will simply turn it intangible."

"That's evil but it's a good plan in theory." Maddie admitted, albeit reluctantly "That way it can just pass through the Earth without any harm at all."

"The choice is yours people of the world, be destroyed or be saved and ruled under me. I await your decision with great eagerness." and with a malicious triumphant laugh, he disappeared from the skies, leaving everyone in disbelief.

"Come on." Leo took one of Vlad's arms over his shoulders.

Danny took the other one over his own shoulder "So what's our plan from here on out, change the name of the Earth to Vladsylvania?"

"Nope, first we take Vlad back to my house and watch as Plasmius' whole scheme comes crashing to the ground in an epic fail and while we wait you and I will figure out our own way to stop the Disasteroid."

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Before long, this discussion had been moved to the Hunter household.

Leo made his way into the living room and set up a whiteboard "Alright I think it's safe to say that we're both thinking of the same idea on how to make sure the Disasteroid doesn't destroy the Earth but let's go over the details just to be on the safe side."

"Actually before we do any of that, I just wanna say something." Danny got up on his feet and looked Leo in the eye as let breathed out a deep sigh "I wanted to say I'm sorry, about all of the stupid stuff I'd said and done over the past few weeks. I thought that by giving up my ghost powers I would be protecting everyone from whatever messed up scheme Vlad was gonna pull but the truth is that I was just putting them in more danger. I screwed up really bad."

"...Well it's not like you could help it, everybody has a moment of weakness at one point or another. Truth be told this was mine too, after our fight I actually almost gave up on you but I got a much needed pep talk from Star. She really snapped me out of my funk."

"Sounds like you owe her."

"I wouldn't put it like that but I think that's all the incentive I need."

"So you mean…"

"Yeah, I'm gonna ask her out once this whole Disasteroid thing is over. As long as you ask Sam out at the same time."

"...You had to ruin the moment didn't you?"

"If by ruin you mean push it forward then yes."

"Guys." Valerie made his way in "Vlad is awake."

"How's he doing?"

"He and Mr Fenton are talking right now."

"So he's probably screwed."

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(Starting from about 5 minutes before)

Vlad slowly opened his eyes "Where… Where am I?"

"In Leo and Raph's house."

Vlad turned to his side and saw Jack sitting next to his bed "Jack… So you know then?"

"Yeah, Raph told me everything that he found in Ben's journals like about how I was the one that caused that accident in college. But Vladdie I need you to understand, I never meant to hurt you in any way. That was all an accident. I'm your friend Vladdie, I've always been."

"I know. Ever since I acquired that accursed ghost half that's plagued me and controlly my actions I've been trying to find a way to expel him from my body, to no avail. Though I suppose that if any good came out of this then it would give me a chance to see how many horrible things I've done, the people I've hurt, and see that maybe I brought this on myself in some way."

"Vladdie listen to me, you didn't do anything to deserve this."

"Well regardless, perhaps this is what I need. A second chance to make things right."

"You know Danny told me after the CAT awhile back that that was all anyone needed, a second chance. Bring it in Vladdie." he caught Vlad in a hug "But what are we gonna do about your ghost half?"

"I can help with that."

Jack turned to see Leo standing in the doorway "You've got a plan?"

"That I do Mr Fenton, and the best part is that we don't have to do anything. You see Plasmius is different from other ghosts, that being that since he was created from the accident while you guys were in college, so that means that unlike most ghosts he's made up entirely of pure ecto energy right?"

"Where are you going with this?" asked Vlad.

"You see over the past few days Raph and I did our own analysis on the asteroid and figured out that it's made up entirely of ecto-ranium."

"So then…"

"As soon as he touches the thing, he'll be obliterated on the spot."

"But what do we do abtout the asteroid?"

"I sent Danny to get Tucker, Sam and the rest of them and bring them back here once Plasmius is toast. We'll explain everything then. I just feel bad for my brother though, I mean he's the one that has to fly Plasmius up there."

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The time had come for the supposed world saving mission.

Vlad put down his own signature on the documents that gave him total supremacy of the entire world "And that marks the conclusion of act two of a little production that I like to call One Nation Under Plasmius, now one to the climax!" so with that in mind, he boarded the Hunter Rocket and blasted off into space.

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It wasn't long before the Hunter rocket had exited the Earth's atmosphere and was soaring across the Solar System.

Raphael took a deep breath before breaking the silence "Well Plasmius I hope you're proud of yourself."

Plasmius shot him a smirk "Oh believe me my boy, I am. Truth be told I should be thanking you for what your father did for me. After all, if he hadn't proposed that project for the prototype ghost portal all those years ago then I wouldn't be moments away from becoming ruler over all of the Earth and stealing Maddie from Jack and making her my queen." he made his way towards the elevator.

"Someone like her will never going to love an abomination like you Plasmius, you don't even know what love is. It's because of you that her friend since college has been forced to commit unspeakable actions over the past 20 years and you've been trying to off her husband every chance you get!"

"I'll be sure to keep all of that in mind when I not only make her my queen, whether she wants to be or not, and finally get rid of not only her son, but your brother too." and with that, the doors to the elevator shut.

' _Any minute now, you're gonna get evertyhing that you've had coming to you for the past 20 years.'_

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Vlad flew his way out into the void of space towards the Disasteroid ' _Just one more moment and it will all be worth it…'_ he finally reached the Disasteroid "At long last, after 20 years of scheming and plotting, waiting for my moment, it has arrived! My day has come! This world belongs to me!" and with that, he placed his hands down on the Disasteroid, only for electricity b to start coursing through his body, causing him to cry out in pain "No, this is wrong! This shouldn't be happening! How could-" he couldn't get another word out before he was vaporized on the spot by the effects of making contact with the Ectoranium.

Raphael watched the scene from within the cockpit of the Hunter Rocket "Well as you can see here ladies and gentlemen, the Disasteroid is composed entirely of ectoranium and therefore no ghost can touch it. On a better note however, Vlad Plasmius has been annihilated as a result of us acquiring this information. He will not be missed." he slamed on the button that activated the rocket's jets and started to make his way back to Earth.

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By this point, every member of Team Phantom, as well as Valerie herself, had gathered in the lab of the Hunter household and watched as Plasmius destroyed himself.

"Well that's kind of hollow." Star broke the silence.

"Whare are we gonna do now?" asked Tucker.

"I think we've got an answer for that." Leo and Danny made their way down into the lab "We came up with a solution since we knew Plasmius would botch it. So here's the deal, what if we didn't turn the asteroid with the stupid name intangible?"

"Then it would destroy the Earth upon impact." Maddie pointed out.

Danny shot them a smirk "Maybe it would but not if we can make the entire Earth itself intangible."

"Wait are you serious?" asked Tucker "The whole Earth intangible? That would take like a bazillion ghosts and one seriously massive transfer device to transfer the intangibility across the entire world."

"We'll worry about the device later." Danny pulled out the Infimap "Behold the addresses of every ghost in existence."

Sam burst out of her chair "Now that's the Danny I know, so much for sitting on the sidelines huh?"

"Let's just say I've had more than enough of that for one lifetime. The only question is, how are we gonna get there."

"Danny your questions wound me." Leo flashed into his ghost form and pushed a button on the wall, revealing his intact ghost portal "Behold, one intact portal to the Ghost Zone." he pressed another button, revealing a replica of the Specter Speeder "The Hunter Shuttle, based off of the plans of the Fenton Specter Speeder but triple the speed and twice the firepower." he ushered everyone into the shuttle, with him and Danny taking the front "Alright, let's get moving." and they ventured forward, through the portal.

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Before long, the Hunter Shuttle was forging its way through the Ghost Zone.

Valerie looked around in awe "I-I don't believe it… This is amazing!"

"Well guess what Val, you better start believing." Leo told her "Welcome to the Ghost Zone, kind of like a Ghosts R Us when you think about it."

"Looks like the shelves are empty though." Danny pointed out "Where the heck are all the ghosts anyway?" this was followed by the ship getting blasted and trapped in some sort of containment cube.

"Okay what's going on?" asked Jazz.

"I've got a bad feeling I know what it is."

"Foolish of you to come here in your human form ghost child." that was when Skulker showed up out of the blue with a number of other ghosts right behind him "Let me guess, seeking refugre in the Ghost Zone like all of the others?"

"What do you mean others?" asked Leo.

"All of the idiot ghosts behind me, they returned here because you and the rest of the humans put your world in danger and now the Ghost Zone is bursting at the seams."

"But it's the flip side of our world." Tucker pointed out "That means that if the Earth ends up getting destroyed then the Ghost Zone goes too."

Skulker said nothing, he just pushed a button on his belt, sending painful vibrations through the box.

"Hang on guys, I've got this!" Leo pushed a button and sent out a sonar wave, dissipating the box, and then he gunned it, sending the Hunter Shuttle flying forward at full speed, with the army of pissed off ghosts right behind them "Danny now's our chance."

"I know, you guys get into the escape pod." Danny took the controls, with Leo ushering them all into the ecape pod.

Sam stayed behind for a moment "But Danny…"

"Go!"

"...Alright, just be careful." and she rushed off to join the others in the escape pod.

Danny promptly ejected it once they were all inside and continued onwards on his own, only to crash into the Behemoth ghost "Oh crap."

That was when Skulker and the others caught up with him "It's bad enough you end up destroying your own world and now you have to destroy ours too?" he prepared a blaster on his wrist.

"Wait a second, you don't under-"

"FIRE!" they all fired at him with a massive barrage of simultaneous ecto rays, engulfing him all at once and destroying the Specter Speeder in the process.

Danny was engulfed in all of the blasts at once, but instead of being obliterated he was engulfed in a massive burst of green light.

"What the-?!"

When the light dissipated it revealed Danny once again in his ghost form, which had now been slightly altered to have a siver collar with the top of it being a light green, the black part taking a v form down his chest with the rest of the torso area being silver, the pants part being cut in half in length, his boots going higher up his legs with green on the tips of it, his gloves now black with green rings on the end of the wrists, and a green belt, his once again green eyes burning wildly "I hope you guys are ready, you just made the biggest mistake of your afterlife."

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Sam and the others looked on in sheer awe "Danny… he's got his powers back!"

Leo let out a chuckle "Looks like everything went according to plan."

"Hold on, did you know this was gonna happen?"

"That was actually the first stage in our grand plan, you see I knew that when Danny removed his ghost powers in his family's portal it removed all of the traces of ectoplasm that the initial accident a year ago fused with his DNA structure but it doesn't remove or change the fact that his body remembers the exposure to the ectoplasm so I theorized that if he was exposed to a great enough amount of ecto energy then it would not only restore his ghost powers, but it would enhance them to an entirely new level. And damn did it work."

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Danny levelled his intense glare on Skulker and the rest of the ghosts "Well you guys I have good news and bad news, well good news for me and bad news for you. The good news is, my powers are back. The bad news is, my powers are back!" and in order to prove it, he promptly unleashed a full power Ghostly Wail, blowing Skulker and the rest of the ghosts away in the blink of an eye.

The escape pod floated its way over towards him, and Sam was pressed up right against the glass as her eyes locked with his "Danny, it's really you. Well I mean it was always you but…"

"You don't have to explain Sam, I know what you mean." he pressed his hand on the glass "I'm sorry for acting like such a jackass lately."

"I'm just glad you're back."

"You and me both."

"I'm glad to have you back too man." Leo told him "But we'd better hurry, Skulker isn't the type to give up that easily and knowing him I'd say there's a pretty good chance he's gonna bring some major fire power."

"Yeah you've got a point there, we'd better get out of here until we've got on the details on this whole thing figured out."

"And we'd better do it fast, we've only got 5 days until the asteroid arrives."

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The next day came, and things were getting hectic.

Lance Thunder stood outside city hall with a massive crowd of reporters and spectators from a number of different countries "Danny Phantom is back, aftet a strange 2 week absence the teen ghost fighter has returned with a message for the world and all of its people."

Sure enough, Danny stepped up to the podium, with Leo standing right by his side, both in their ghost forms, and with Tucker, Sam, Kwan, Star, Jazz, Jack, Maddie, Valerie, Vlad and Raphael standing right behind them "Hello people of the world, as you may know I am Danny Phantom and the ghost standing beside me is my teacher, the Phantom Blade."

Leo nodded "That's right, and together the two of us have come up with a plan to save us all from the oncoming asteroid with the horrible name."

"And this one, unlike the one Plasmius came up with, is absolutely free of charge. Well except for the expences that is."

The spectators were nothing short of skeptical "If ghosts can't touch the asteroid then how the heck are you two gonna stop it?"

"Because our plan isn't to turn the asteroid intangible. Our plan is to turn the entire Earth itself intangible." this was met with gasps from the crowd as he and Leo both stepped back.

Tucker made his way up to the podium, with Raphael right behind him "Ladies, gentlemen, various different nations of the world and stuff. My name is Tucker Foley, he is Raphael Hunter, and we are both techno geeks."

"Hi Tucker!" a group of geeks waved at him from within the crowd.

"Dudes." he and Raphael opened up the presentation on a wide screen "This new plan is a very simple one, with a strong enough ghostly power source and a big enough transfer device we can send the energy of the ghosts' intangibility across the surface of the entire planet. This way the Disasteroid will be able to pass harmlessly through it and therefore we will all be able to live to see tomorrow." he shut down the presentation and stepped back, with Raphael quietly doing the same.

Leo stepped back up to the podium, with Danny right behind him "So that's the plan people, are you in or are you out?"

The initial reacrtion was a stunned silence, but slowly but surely more and more of the crowd began to applaud and cheer for them.

"Yeah that's what I thought."

"They never put that much effort into their schoolwork." Lancer muttered.

"Get used to it Lancer, they never will."

Danny stepped up to the podium next "Alright, so here's the plan. Tucker Foley and Raphael Hunter will lead the construction team in building the transfer device at the center of the North Pole while the teams being lead by Jack Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Damon Gray and Vlad Masters, who is totally ghost free by the way, will work on spreading the transfer cables across the four corners of the globe. We will be able to pull through this, but first we have to come together not as separate countries and nations, but as one single world." this was met with more cheering and applauding.

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The day of the arrival of the Disasteroid had finally arrived, and the main transfer device located at the North Pole had finally been completed.

Sam observed the transfer device from on the ground "Not too bad, now all we need is a massive ghost power source."

"Well Valerie, Kwan and Tucker are all gearing up in those new suits of ghost hunting armor that we made." Leo pointed out "Mark IV, best one by far and with multiple suits they've got the power of like 50 ghosts."

"Not like that's gonna be anywhere near enough though."

"True."

"Are you guys sure you don't want us to come with you?"

"Yeah we're sure." Danny told her "Leo and I can move a lot faster when it's just the two of us, nothing personal but with Sam but we've only got 8 hours to gather enough ghosts to save the world and all. Which reminds me, are mom and dad on their way back yet?"

"Yeah, they just contacted us." Jazz told him "They finished placing the last of the transfer cables in Morocco and they'll be back within an hour."

"Good, make sure they're manning the control tower the minute they get here. We can't afford to waste a single second."

"Enough chatter, we've gotta get moving." Leo held up the Infi-Map "Accord to this bad boy there's gonna be a portal opening up over the pole any minute now."

"Yeah you're right, and with thousands of ghosts to catch and only 8 hours we need every second we can get."

Jazz quickly caught him in a hug "I'll be sure to see you back here soon little brother, and thanks and good luck." and she left.

Leo looked over and noticed Sam walking towards them, and he siged ' _Well I guess now is as good of a time as any._ Hey Star you got a second?"

"Sure I guess." Star followed him a short distance away.

Danny looked over to Sam "What's up?"

"This." she placed something very familiar in the palm of his hand "It's the ring that you were gonna give to Valerie, you asked me to hold onto it remember? Something tells me that it was meant for me." she flipped it over, revealing the Sam engraving on it.

"Oh well, see that was my dad's idea so-"

"Take it with you, but promise to bring it back to me. You never break your promises so if you do make me this promise then I know I'll see you again."

"...Sam listen, if we make it through this-"

"Not if, when. You should be more optimistic."

"Yeah I guess you're right, anyway _when_ we make it through this I have a lot of stuff I need to talk to you about."

"I think I'd be willing to listen, and no matter how this thing ends, this whole ride we've been on together over the past year, all of the good times and the bad, I wouldn't change any of it for the world." she took his hands in hers "Not one bit."

"Me neither. I…"

She kissed him on the cheek.

He cupped her cheek and lightly kissed her on the lips "Wow, hey when this whole thing is over you gotta remind me to save the world from near extinction more often."

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Star followed Leo a few feet away from Danny and Sam "So they're gonna kiss right? About time."

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Leo turned to face her and let out a sigh "Look Star I actually meant to tell you this awhile ago but-"

"Actually I need to say something to you first, but before that your brother told me a few days ago about that diamond necklace you were gonna give to me."

"...Note to self, kick his ass later." he pulled it out of his invisible pockets "I was gonna wait until this whole thing was over but-"

"Then take it with you, but promise me you'll bring it back. You always keep your promises so if you promise me then I know you'll come back."

"Star listen, as soon as this whole thing is over and the world is safe again we really need to talk about this stuff."

"I'm more than willing to listen. And just know that no matter what, no matter how all of this ends, this whole ride you and me and the others have been on over the past year or so, I would never want to change it for the world even if I could. Not a single moment of it."

"Neither would I."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

In response to this, he wrapped his arms around her back and kissed her gently on the lips, before parting after a moment "Once this is over with, be sure to remind me to save the world from impending doom more often."

"Go, but be sure to be careful."

"I will make no such promise." he flew off and phased his way into the Fenton Jet, where he found Danny already sitting in the pilot seat "You ready to do this."

"Yep, when is the ghost portal gonna open up?" asked Danny.

"According to the Infimap, right about… Now!" he looked up and sure enough, a portal to the Ghost Zone formed in the sky "Right on cue, are we all set to go?"

"Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed… Alright, let's go save the world!" and with that, they took off through into the Ghost Zone.

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It wasn't long before the Fenton Jet was soaring its way through the Ghost Zone.

Leo sat himself down in the pilot's seat "Alright here's what I think we should do, I'll go around the Ghost Zone and round up as many ghosts as I can while you head over to the Far Frozen and try and recruit Frosbite and his tribe."

"Got it, just take care of yourself." Danny phased out of the cockpit of the jet and took off towards the Far Frozen.

Leo activated the jet's massive ghost net "Alright then, one ridiculously massive ghost power source coming up!" he flew into the portal right in front of him and came out with a lizard ghost caught in the net "Alright then, that's one down and like 96 bazillion to go. I'd better get a move on."

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7 hours passed, and the time of the inevitable arrival of the Disasteroid was looming that much closer.

Now with a net filled with ghosts, Leo was making his way back towards the portal leading to the North Pole "Yes this is awesome, with any luck I'll be able to meet Danny back there in no time-" he was cut off by an explosion that resulted in the net being cut from the jet, and all the ghosts being freed "No no no!"

" _Auto eject initiated."_

"Wait what?" Leo was promptly ejected out of the plane and quickly phased himself out from the seat.

As it turns out, it was Walker who had fired the shot "You should've taken my first warning punk, there ain't gonna be a second one."

Leo looked around and analyzed the situation ' _Okay so let me think about this. I'm trapped in the Ghost Zone, the world is about to be wiped off of the face of the universe, and I'm surrounded by thousands upon thousands of ghosts that all despise me. Time to smooth talk your way out of this one Hunter._ Before you guys try to unleash hell upon me let me just point something out, this world is linked to mine so if mine goes then yours will go with it. Danny and I have a plan that can save us all but I need you guys to work with us." he dodged a stray Ecto Ray that grazed his cheek "I get it Walker, you're pissed at me now get over it! Look I know you couldn't give less of a damn about my world and wouldn't lift a finger to help but I thought you might care about saving your own!" they closed in on him, until…

"Hold it!" Danny burst onto the scene, with Skulker, Pandora, Clockwork, Frosbite and the other warriors of the Far Frozen behind him "You at least care about saving yourselves don't you?"

"Or is it that you just wanna get destroyed that badly."

"...Fine." Walker called the ghosts off, albeit very reluctantly "Alright punk go ahead and tell us your plan, and it better be really damn good."

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Everyone back at the North Pole was waiting in the control tower for Danny and Leo to return with the army of ghosts.

Raphael checked the monitors "It looks like they're coming back."

Sure enough, the Fenton Jet burst through the portal, which closed almost immediately after this, drawing cheers from everyone present, but they quickly subsided when the jet soared over them and crashed into a mountain behind the main transfer device, completely obliterating it in a way that would kill anyone onboard.

Sam and Star both looked on in horror "Danny… Leo… No, no they can't be!"

Raph checked out the scanner "It's about to get worse, the asteroid will enter the Earth's atmosphere in a matter of moments."

With the end of the world right upon them, Jack wrapped his arms around Maddie and Jazz in a gentle embrace "Listen, I just want all of you to know that… I love you, and I'm so proud of each and every one of you for trying your best."

"We love you too dad." Jazz leaned into his embrace, with Maddie doing the same.

"And Danny, I don't know if you can hear me but I hope you know that I love you and that everything you've done, everything you've become, who you are, it's made me the proudest father in the world.

That was when Star noticed it "Look, there's another portal opening! I… I think it's them and a ton of other ghosts!"

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Sure enough, Danny burst through the new portal, with Leo and the army of ghosts following right behind him "Yeah that's right, that's what Danny Phantom and the Phantom Blade bring to the party!"

"Hey so remind me again party king, when exactly did you figure out you could create portals to and from the Ghost Zone again?" asked Leo.

"It turns out I got it after I got my powers back, plus all of my other abilities are a hell of a lot more powerful than before though. It's awesome!"

"I'll say, can you teach me how to do that?"

"Oh you bet I- Wait, you want me to teach you?"

"Yep, which means your training is complete. You're the master now, so what do you say you lead us and save our world Danny Phantom?"

"I'd be honored." they reached the transfer device as all of the ghosts latched onto it in order to lend it their power "You know I still can't believe so many of these guys agreed to help up, maybe some of them do have hearts underneath all of that exctoplasm and/ or cyber armor."

"For the record, I know you're talking about me." Skulker pointed out dryly "And don't go and get sentimental about it either ghost child, keep in mind that we're here to save our own world not yours."

"Yeah I figured as much but it still got you here."

"Enough small talk, I say it's time to get this party started." Leo placed both of his hands on the transfer device, with Danny doing the same as the transfer device was finally activated, absorbing the power from every ghost making contact with it, though they were quick to feel the strain.

"How… much… longer… Raphael?"

" _Wait for it… NOW!"_

"DO IT!" Danny, Leo and all of the ghosts present turned the transfer device intangible using their powers, spreading the effects across the world through the transfer cables, turning the entire Earth and everything on it intangible as a result, just as the Disasteroid was about to make contact with the surface of the Earth, causing it to begin.

"HOW… MUCH… LONGER?!" Leo's voice was loud and increasingly strained as a result of using so much of his own power.

"NOT MUCH! JUST KEEP HOLDING ON FOR A LITTLE LONGER!" and almost immediately after Danny said this, the Disasteroid burst up from within the intangible surface of the Earth and out the other side, before leaving the Earth's atmosphere and disappearing into the void of space, never to be seen again, much to the relief of Danny, Leo and the others as they released their hold on the transfer device, turning the Earth back to normal, leaving them exhausted "Oh thank god… It's over…"

"Yeah… nice job…" they were met with roars and cheers from everyone present, well everyone human that is "Come on, let's go greet your adoring public."

"Works for me." they lowered themselves to the ground and were immediately glomped in a massive groop hug by Tucker and Kwan, both of whom had shed their armor after the asteroid had passed, as well as Raphael, Sam, Star, Jazz, Valerie, Jack, Maddie, and even a reluctant Vlad, who was pulled into it by Jack while his back was turned "Yeah you love us."

"Don't pus it." Jazz told him dryly "But still nice job little brother, or I guess I should say hero now."

"I guess so."

"Hold that thought Spider Ghost." Leo called him off dryly "We've got one last bit of unfinished business." he gestured to where a sulking Skulker and the army of ghosts stood off to the side, clearly annoyed with the love fest.

"Oh yeah right." Danny stood up and turned to face them "I'm not sure where there is for us to sasy other than thank you Skulker, to you and to all of the others."

"Oh please." Skulker grabbed Danny by the front of his jumpsuit "Don't even think about getting mushy on us ghost child, don't forget that I will never stop hunting you. And besides, now that you've saved your world from destruction you're that much more valuable of a prize."

"I look forward to when that day comes."

"As do I." he shot a sideways glance at Leo "Your father would be proud of the man that you've become." and with that, Skulker and the rest of the ghosts returned back through the portal to the Ghost Zone, which disappeared as soon as the last ghost had gone through.

Leo let out a sigh "I can only hope so, because got knows I do."

"Well I think you did awesome." Danny patted him on the shoulder "I mean you did train me for almost a year."

"And look at you now." Jack caught him in a bone crushing hug "I can't tell you how proud of you I am son."

"Son? Mr Fenton what do you mean by that?" asked Mr Lancer.

"...Oh crap. Well you see…"

Danny put a hand on his shoulder "Dad it's okay, I think it's finally time."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Leo "I mean this is what terrified you for so long and this time you don't have a Reality Gauntlet to erase, once you do it there's no going back."

"I'm sure, the last time I did it was because that incident me and Jazz had with the Guys in White make me think that the world wasn't ready to know the truth. But now I think that the time has come."

"Then I'll do it with you, consider it my true last act as your teacher."

"Works for me."

"Okay. 1… 2… 3!" and on that note, the two of them both flashed back into their human forms, revealing their secrets to the entire world. Everyone was shocked at first, but after a brief silence they began to applaud and cheer, mainly for Danny.

"Well that's better than I had expected."

"So is the fact that we survived, now I say we go home and party all night!" this was met with even more cheering.

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Sunset came, and everyone had relocated back to the Hunter household in order to celebrate the success of the mission.

Tucker and Kwan were hyping it up big time "Who saved the world?!"

"We saved the world!" Sam, Jazz, Jack, Maddie, Valerie and Raphael echoed.

"I said who saved the world?!"

"We saved the world!"

"I SAID-"

"Stop saying it!" Sam finally had enough.

"We saved the world." Tucker muttered quietly.

"Just shut up and eat." Sam shoved a burger into his mouth "So where are Danny and Leo right now? I mean this party is mainly for the two of them."

Raphael shrugged "I think they're off checking on Vlad, I mean he has been really quiet ever since we got back."

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Vlad looked in his reflection in a mirror ' _It's been so long since I've seen my own face.'_

"Thinking to yourself again?"

Vlad looked back and his gaze softened "Oh, Daniel."

Sure enough, Danny stood there in his human form with a new attire, consisting of a black jacket with a gray collar, a plain white t shirt with a black collar, dark blue jeans and a pair of black and white sneakers "Everyone's downstairs celebrating, you gonna join them?"

"Perhaps, but before that Daniel… I never did apologize to you did I? For everything I've done to you I mean."

"...Don't worry about it, I'm not really one to hold a grudge and I know that you couldn't help yourself."

"Perhaps not but that doesn't mean I don't feel shame for it."

"Well the way I see it you could mope about it or you could take the second chance life gave you and make something of it."

"I'm well aware of that Daniel and that's why I've made a decision, I'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

"You're gonna be heading back to Wisconsin?"

"No, not for some time. I know that I was not in control of my actions for so long but all the same I ended up hurting a lot of people. That is a wrong for which I can never make amends, but at the very least I will travel across the country, find those that I've hurt and made suffer and try to make amends in any way I can."

"...Well that sounds okay to me, I can tell that your mind is made up so I'm not gonna stand in your way or anything. You are your own man again after all."

"Thank you. You did well in this crisis, you truly have grown Daniel." and he made his way downstairs.

' _I guess I grew a lot before I even realized it.'_

"Hey man." Leo phased through the wall and flashed back into his human form "New outfit huh?"

"Yeah, I figured that a new look would be one of the best ways to mark the beginning of a new era."

"Fair enough. So you and Sam are officially a thing now, what with the class ring and everything?"

"Yep, but I bet the same can be said with you and Star now right?"

"You bet your ass."

"Nice." they fist bumped, followed by a brief pause

"You know they're planning to make some gigantic statues of you in front of city hall and in the capital of every other nation in the world?"

"Yeah my sister told me, I don't think I'm gonna go though."

"Me neither, nothing persona man but big formal ceremonies like that are never gonna be my thing."

"I know what you mean, and frankly I just like sitting on the sidelines sometimes. I never thought that much of being a hero either, but if I can protect my friends and family and help people then why not?"

"And you're sure you're cool with everyone in the world, even the Guys in White after all that crap a month ago, knowing about your secred identity and all?"

"Yeah, I think I am. The time for secrets has run its course and now it's over. The bad guy is gone for good, the world is safe, we're both seen as heroes even if they for some reason see you as the Robin to my Batman, and now it's time for some new beginnings."

"Looks like you're a super big star now, probably the biggest in the world after everything that's happened."

"And you're almost as big of one now that everyone knows that you're a half ghost too and the one who taught me."

"Things are probably gonna get pretty busy."

"Not like that's anything new."

"And things are gonna keep changing."

"I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, Leo I have no idea how much of this I could've done without you. I don't know what's coming next and frankly I don't care, I just hope that whatever it is you and the others are by my side to share it with me."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that, you couldn't get rid of me if you tried. But don't think this means I'm gonna turn into some huge pushover just because I'm no longer your teacher, I've still got my own way of doing things."

"And that is exactly what I'm counting on." they clapsed their hands in a high five "So what do you say, you wanna head downstairs and enjoy the party?"

"And see where the future takes us? Sure why not." and with that, they headed downstairs, ready to enjoy the party and see what the future had in store for them, for whether it would be good or bad, they would be ready.

And thus, the story of Team Phantom comes to an end…

 **A/N:**

 **I skipped the whole thing about Vlad being the mayor because I honestly thought that idea was pretty boring, and I didn't really like many of the other episodes of season 3 very much so I just decided to go straight to Phantom Planet to cap off this fic. Oh and I decided to cut Danny's girl clone Dani out of this fic, I figured that if the writers didn't want to put her into more than 2 episodes then she wasn't that important to the main overall story to begin with.**

 **Let me clarify something: My plan was never to make Leo the main character, I created him to act as a mentor figure for Danny and help him to become the best half ghost hero he could.**

 **But that being said, I made Leo disapprove of Danny giving up his ghost powers to show that he can get angry or disappointed, mainly since he hasn't had as much character development as Danny in this fic.**

 **I added in that idea about Vlad's half ghost being like a split personality becuase I wanted to give him a better ending than in the actual series, I mean call it what you will but I think he deserved better than that.**

 **Now then, for the really important thing. I've decided to delete my Dragon Slayer story because let's face it, it's obvious that none of you really liked it. I might reupload it at some point but for the time being, it's gone. If you liked it then I'm sorry, but this is my decision.**

 **So overall, what do you think? Please review and give your opinions on what you think I did well, what could'be been done better, anything.**


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